You Belong With Me
by EdgeEmpress
Summary: It doesn't matter what universe you are in, it doesn't matter what hardships you face. You and Sans are meant for each other, and maybe one day you'll get your happy ending. [Sans/Reader, multiple AUs]
1. Underfell

Your soul zoomed away, coming to the halfway point between you and the skeleton monster. It had hovered in front of you during previous battles, but it had never gone that far from you. Now, with how it was behaving, you might as well of been offering it up to the grinning skeletal freak who'd tried to attack you.

"heh. don't tell me you're _soul_ d on giving up so soon. that's so boring. the only time someone's soul goes that close to their opponent in battle is when they're askin' for a mercy killing," the skeleton chuckled, pointed gold tooth glinting as it caught the light.

Great. Your soul, which you weren't even aware of until two days previous, was now misbehaving. You didn't know how to control the damn thing! And now, because of whatever it was doing, you were going to be killed by some monster that made worse puns than you. You could almost hear you former friends telling you this was some twisted karma for all the bad jokes you had told over the years, but you pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind and focused on calling your soul back.

The skeleton hadn't stopped laughing as he summoned a pointed red bone in the air and motioned it toward your defenseless being. He did stop laughing when it disappeared and an inverted white heart appeared in front of him.

"what the f*ck?" he growled, looking between his now visible soul and you, "the f*ck did you do?"

"You think I know what's going on? You must be a bigger numbskull than you look!" you rolled your eyes at him, still focusing on figuring out how to get your soul back.

Your focus was disturbed as he suddenly yelled, and you watched in confused amazement as the once fearsome enemy fumbled desperately after his own soul. It was closing the distance toward yours quickly. You snorted at his embarrassing display. Not so scary now.

 _It was closing the distance toward yours quickly._

Oh. OH! That suddenly hit you as you ran stumbling toward your floating soul as well, desperate to try and give it some sort of protection.

The white soul collided with yours before you reached it, and you crumpled into the snowy ground. The **feelings** were overwhelming. It was like something that you never had even known was missing had suddenly been returned, and a joyful warmth spread like wildfire through your body. But there was a sadness too, the empty kind that you were all too familiar with, but this time it wasn't yours. And there was anger and desperation and hopelessness. The flow felt like it had no end.

You looked up, only to see the skeleton monster staring with pupil-less eyes at your souls. His smaller white one had been engulfed by yours, but was still visible on either side, creating an odd merge.

That strange sight alongside the sudden influx of emotion was too much for your body to take. With a sigh, the feelings came to a sudden stop and you crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

-[]-

"SANS YOU USELESS PIECE OF TRASH. OF COURSE YOUR SOULMATE IS A HUMAN. A WEAK MONSTER LIKE YOU HAD TO BE PAIRED TO SOMEONE JUST AS DISGUSTING."

The loud voice stirred you from your slumber, and you opened your eyes, squinting at the sudden light. You were in a living room of some sort. You were on a couch?

"yeah, yeah, boss. i get it. but the real issue here is how the hell we handle this."

The skeleton that had attacked you before was frantic, and gestured toward…oh. Your souls. Still bound together apparently.

"Sh*t," you sat up, immediately vetoing any plan you had of escape. As long as your soul was like that, you weren't going anywhere.

"IT IS AWAKE," a taller skeleton wearing some sort of ridiculous dark armor was apparently the source of the obnoxious voice.

You raised your hands up to rub your temples with a sigh. "Yeah, I'm awake. And not an 'it', thanks. Could you take it down a few notches by the way? I was just knocked out. My skull feels like it could split almost as much as I want to split both of yours."

'Boss' let out a groan.

'Sans' had some sort of twisted smirk on his face. "the bone-based threats and insults aren't goin' to help ya, pal."

You sneered back at him. "How about you shut up, bonehead, or fill me in on whatever the hell is going on? Because clearly I'd be dead if that was an option, so something has to be up."

The taller skeleton let out a laugh, "APPARENTLY THE UNIVERSE DECIDED TO PAIR YOU WITH SOMEONE THAT ACTUALLY HAS A BRAIN TO BALANCE OUT YOUR IDIOCY, SANS."

"How about you do me a favor and explain what you keep going on about? Soulmates? Paired? What's this nonsense?" Could this guy get any more annoying?

Another laugh. "OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS…"

Yes. Yes he could get more annoying.

"WILL TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING ON. IT IS AMUSING, IN A WAY, IN THAT IT IS AWFUL FOR MY WASTE OF SPACE BROTHER AND YOU."

He was too noisy. Your head pounded again, and to your surprise, Sans grit his teeth and let out a pained whine. "boss. can ya tone it down a bit? with the bond an' all their pain is driftin' over to me."

Papyrus (or was it Boss?) gave an irritated huff. "Very well."

Sans moved over and sat on the end of the couch, and you moved off the middle to the other end.

Papyrus folded his arms and faced the two of you. "Every soul has another that is perfect for it. The first time that those souls have an opportunity to meld, they will. If my idiot brother had been paying more attention he would have known better than to start a fight with you, he should have sensed that you were his soulmate."

"hey! give a break here. i've met all the monsters in the underground, an' nothin'. i had assumed that i had been lucky enough to avoid the whole mess," Sans grumbled.

"Anyway," Papyrus gave a glare that warned him not to speak again, "You can choose to reject the bond immediately, but it is stressful on the souls. Since this runt only has 1 hp, if you tried that he would probably die. That is not completely unfortunate, after all, it would rid me of him and the king needs your soul. But, alas, if he died it might kill you in the process and release your soul before we can extract it. That leaves the option of accepting the bond."

Oh hell no. "Like hell I'm going to have any connection to this freak. Soulmates? What a laugh."

"You don't have any other choice. Besides, it will only be temporary. After the bond is accepted there is a timeframe of connectivity where you won't be able to leave each other, like a test period. After that month, the bond can be broken; the souls accepting that although they are made for each other, the people are not."

"Great. So I would have to live and associate with him (and probably you because you seem to live here) for a month so that 1) he can live and 2) my soul can be captured right after and put through torture instead of passing on. Am I getting that right?" You couldn't believe this. They actually thought you were going to agree to this.

"Exactly. You ARE an intelligent human." Papyrus did not seem to see the issue with this solution.

"look, i'm not exactly happy with this either, sweetcheeks, but it'll be better for both of us if ya just do it." Sans didn't look at you, gaze fixed blankly ahead.

"How about no?" you scoffed, "How do I reject the bond?"

"I'm not going to tell you that." Papyrus stared at you like perhaps he was reconsidering his 'intelligent' judgment.

"well then how do i accept it so we can get this whole trial period over asap?" Sans' natural grin twisted into something more wicked, "do i f*ck 'em? can i _make_ 'em accept the bond?"

A skeletal arm moved onto the middle cushion of the couch as he suddenly leaned your way. You realized, as he leered in your direction, that you liked it much better when he didn't look at you at all.

"F*ck no!" You leapt off the couch, a wave of panic running through you.

Your soul responded, pulsing in discomfort, and Sans was immediately hunched over, letting out another whine of pain.

Papyrus slapped Sans' with a gloved hand. "Idiot, no. First of all, stop upsetting them. While you're bonded your soul will hurt you if you hurt or scare them. Second of all, you should know how accepting the bond works, you lazybones."

Sans sat back up, normal pointed grin back, and shrugged, "like i said, i didn't worry about it. i thought i had lucked out of this whole mess, and it's not like i was there when you and mettaton…"

"DO NOT BRING MY SOULMATE INTO THIS. YOU ARE LUCKY I AM HELPING YOU AT ALL," Papyrus suddenly boomed, red magic forming on his hands.

"i-i'm sorry, boss. won't happen again," sans shrunk in his seat.

The magic faded. "Very well. As for accepting the bond, both of you just have to say it. Your souls will each return to you, connected on a different level." His attention focused on you. "You will do this, human. It is either die now or die later, and I do believe that the latter option makes more sense."

Oh, yes, perfect sense. If you knew how to reject the bond you could kill Sans and maybe die peacefully in one stroke. But, on the other hand, you didn't know how to reject the bond, and accepting gave you another month. A month to figure out how to escape from this.

It was barely a whisper when you said it. "I accept the bond." It was out of frustration, but you hoped that maybe it sounded more broken or defeated. Let them think you had given up.

Sans did hear you and quickly stated the same, almost like he was afraid that you would somehow recant your statement, "i accept the bond."

Your melded souls came apart, each flying back into their respective body.

"Thank gods," you sighed. It felt better to have your soul where it belonged again, but you could still feel him, unfortunately.

Sans also patted his chest, appearing happy to have what belonged to him back. "there. now that's out of the way. i suppose that we just lock 'em in the shed for the month? we can't have other monsters seeing 'em, and it isn't like one of us can watch 'em all the time. you've got work, boss, i've got work."

"I think that you mean you have slacking off." Papyrus shook his head. "I will be calling you out of work for the next month. You will be staying home, inside, the entire time."

"what? why? come on! and like anyone is going to believe that i am sick that long."

"YOU SHOULDN'T QUESTION ME, BROTHER," his voice dropped suddenly again, and for a second he seemed just tired, "If either of you go too far away from each other during the first month of bonding, you will get extremely sick. It can be fatal. That is why I worked as guard for Mettaton's show the first month after we bonded. You are right, the human cannot be seen, so they have to stay inside, and you have to stay with them. As for people believing you are ill, not many would care anyway, but I will just tell them you have fallen down. With the way you are, they will more than believe that."

Papyrus' became even quieter, if that were possible, "Please, just do this one thing for me."

Sans' stiffened stance softened, "yeah. i can do that for you, bro."

That was… strange. For a second there it almost seemed like they cared about each other.

"SO, TRASHBAG, TAKE YOUR TRASH HUMAN SOULMATE UP TO YOUR TRASHPIT OF A ROOM, BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE THEY WILL BE STAYING. DO NOT LET THEM IN MY GLORIOUS ROOM. DO NOT FORGET WHAT I HAVE TOLD YOU ABOUT SCARING THEM, THOUGH TO BE HONEST, I COULD CARE LESS IF YOU GO THROUGH SOME PAIN," Papyrus suddenly pulled himself up to his full height and straightened his shoulders, "I AM OFF TO REPORT THAT I FOUND YOU FALLEN DOWN."

"whatever, your lordship! i'll do whatever you say, sir!" sarcasm dripped from Sans.

And they were back to being at each other's throats. Great, now you were stuck with these two weirdos.

"well, sweetheart," Sans stood and offered a hand off the couch, "guess i should give you the tour."

One of them showing you around the house, giving you an excuse to look for ways to potentially escape later? Yes, please.

"Stop calling me stuff like that." You took his hand.

-[]-

It was time to sleep, and despite being unconscious for a good part of the day, you really needed to rest.

Sans had given you a tour of the house minus Papyrus' 'glorious' room and you were disappointed to say that all of the windows were boarded shut, meaning no easy escape there. He did mention that because no one could see in the windows you had full run of the house, which was nice.

The living room was actually rather homey and had a TV, but Sans told you that all of the shows were run by a violent robot, Mettaton, and would potentially be too gory for your delicate human tastes. You had sat down for an hour, hiding your disgust, and watched a game show where contestants that gave the wrong answer were dropped into a shark monster's tank just to prove him wrong. This also gave you an idea of what Papyrus' soulmate was like and how they were similar. Well, they were both very loud.

He then showed you the kitchen and warned you that Boss had a thing for pasta and that was about all you would be eating. You figured it could be worse. About that time Papyrus got back and made spaghetti for you all to eat. From there, it was time for bed.

This led you to your current issue. The skeleton brothers fully expected you to sleep in San's room. It was dirty. Papyrus hadn't lied about it being a trash pit. There was literally a vortex of trash spinning in the corner of the room, but that wasn't what was bothering you.

You were frozen in the doorway, eyes locked the single bed Sans sat on as he patted the space next to him.

"come on," he yawned, "i'm tired, you're tired. get over here so we can sleep."

Your mind flashed to what he had said earlier on the couch, the feral look in his eyes, what you had felt through the bond. Just… _can i make 'em?_ "I-I'm not comfortable sleeping in the same room as you, much less the same bed."

A small whine of pain came from him. "seriously? are you still upset about that?" Apparently your worry was enough to resonate.

"Of course I'm still f*cking upset about that!" you yelled, "Why in hell's name would I not still be upset by that!"

He rolled his eyes. "look. despite whatever vibes you got from boss' touching 'leave my soulmate out of this' bull, when it comes down to it most monsters view these relationships as physical. if ya show any other sort of love toward your soulmate in public, it's seen as a weakness. romantic love just isn't a thing that we do down here, and if ya do ya hide it. so of course when I am trying to remember how this whole thing goes my mind automatically strayed, well, there."

To hell with this society, to hell with this skeleton, to hell with his brother, you just didn't want to be there. Was that too much to ask?

"i'm sorry."

Did he just say…? "What was that?"

Sans laid down facing away from you, "i'm not sayin' it again. if ya aren't comfortable up here ya can sleep on the couch. the only reason that we had ya up here was so that you wouldn't run away, but i think that you have enough self-preservation to know better because if ya run away you'll just sick."

Without another word you went back downstairs and curled up on the couch.

Okay, he was still awful, but maybe not as awful. You could survive this month, then you'd escape.

You repeated that mantra in your head until you drifted off to sleep.

-[]-

The fifth night you woke up in panic. Falling. You had jumped. As you fell you regretted it, but when you landed alive you still felt sick that you were alive. A flower mocking your failed death. A goat woman the first person to be nice to you since you can remember, but her food is poison, her love suffocating. And all along the way the voices still follow. Why do you try? Why are you still alive? Why? Why? Why?

Another form laid next to you and pulled you to their chest. There wasn't a heartbeat, but there was a soothing thrum that works the same. They gently laced their arms around you, rubbing your back gently and hushing you quietly.

"shhhhh, you're not alone."

"you're okay, shhhhh."

"shhhhh, just breathe."

And as your tears finally slowed, "there you go, shhhhh, shhhhh, go on. go back to sleep."

When you woke up in Sans' arms on the couch the next morning the night came rushing back to you.

He woke as you shifted and immediately got up, pulling at the neck of his red t-shirt. "when ya get upset like that i can feel it. makes it hard to sleep. don't do that," he grumbled before wandering toward the kitchen.

That was your only interaction other than watching literally horrible TV and dinner pleasantries the first week.

-[]-

"Papyrus, I think that this old food is _pasta_ its expiration date," you joked as you pulled open the lid of the Tupperware container marked for dinner that night.

Sans heard and laughed from the other room, "you oughta be careful being that _saucy_ with boss."

Groaning, Papyrus walked over and peered into the container, begrudgingly nodding when he saw the beginnings of some sort of mold.

"I WILL MAKE SOME FRESH!" he announced, pulling out a pot and filling it with water to boil.

It was always funny to see him like this, wandering the house in full armor as always, but also completely overjoyed to be doing housework. Cooking, cleaning, it was an all the time thing with Papyrus. He loved taking care of the house, and he loved taking care of Sans though he would never admit it. Or, at least, that is what you had put together in the two weeks you'd been there.

You certainly hoped that you were right about him being a big softie with what you were about to do.

"Papyrus!" You tugged at his arm, trying to pull him away from the stove he was about to light, " _Forgetti_ the spaghetti. If I have another serving my stomach will get quite _upsetti_ , and you and I will be filled with _regretti_."

As you started you monologue Sans moved to the kitchen and leaned on the doorframe. His grin got wider as Papyrus' scowl darkened. "watch it, do any more of that and i think that his temper will _boil_ over. look at that, there's practically already _steam_ comin' outta his ears. hey boss, you're starting to look a bit _overcooked_. ya gonna be okay?"

You released your grip on Papyrus and laughed, hands automatically flying up to cover your smile.

"NNNNNNN-" Papyrus looked like he was about ready to explode, "NYEH! IT IS NO WONDER THE UNIVERSE MATCHED YOU TWO AWFUL JOKESTERS."

His hand rested on the handle of the pot of water he was about to boil and his volume dropped. "What is wrong with my pasta?"

Oh. Oh no. You didn't mean to upset him. "Oh, Papyrus," you grabbed his other hand comfortingly; "There isn't anything wrong with it. I love pasta. It's just that humans have to have a varied diet. If I had something different at least once a week- it doesn't even have to be something particularly good for me- it would be a lot better for me."

"YOU NEED SOMETHING ELSE?" Papyrus was completely befuddled.

You tried to smile patiently, "Yes. I can live on just pasta, but I might get sick if I do that for too long."

"WELL WE CAN'T HAVE YOU GET SICK, THAT COULD RUIN EVERYTHING."

Sans looked overjoyed for some reason. "boss! boss!"

"WHAT, SANS?" Papyrus reluctantly acknowledged his brother.

"you should go get some chow from grillby's."

"NO."

"come on. it isn't like we have anything to cook here other than pasta."

"NO. HOW WOULD I EVEN EXPLAIN GOING TO GRILLBY'S? THE ENTIRE TOWN THINKS THAT YOU'VE FALLEN DOWN AND I DON'T EAT THE FOOD THERE."

"ya could say that you're trying to entice me to get better because… with me sick ya have to do all the house chores and that is unbecoming the second in command of the royal guard."

"THAT… ISN'T TERRIBLE," Papyrus pondered for a moment, "FINE. BUT JUST BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH A SICK HUMAN."

You were glad that whatever that was had settled down. "Uh. So what do they serve at this 'Grillby's'?"

Sans began to walk over, painting a picture of the amazing food with wide gestures. "only the best cheap and greasy food that you'll find in the underground. it'll be a nice change from boss' gourmet food won't it? so, are ya gonna want a burger or fries?"

"I think you mean 'you are going to love the burger and the fries', I am so having both!" your mouth was already watering. You would kill for a good cheeseburger.

Sans patted your shoulder approvingly before turning to Papyrus, "that is my type of person, right there. well, ya heard them boss, a burger **and** fries for them and my usual for me."

"I WILL BE BACK. LET US HOPE YOUR LIE ISN'T AS HORRENDOUS AS YOU," Papyrus marched out the door, letting it slam dramatically behind him.

Sans wandered back over to the couch followed by you, "you're going to really like grillby's food. he maybe wants to kill me, but he still knows how to do a burger right."

You sat on opposite ends of the couch, as per usual. That had kind-of become the standard for you two. Passing touches had become normal within the last week: a friendly pat on the back, a high five after a bad joke, etc., but that was where it stopped. There was nothing more like the night he came and comforted you, and you were comfortable with that.

For awhile you sat in silence, but Sans soon looked over at you, "hey."

"Yeah, Sans?" you responded lazily, having started to automatically drift off without the television on.

"you've proven yourself to be rather good at puns, a hobby that i also share. how about we make it a game?" his eyes seemed to grow brighter with a pulse, "how about we make it a wager?"

That was enough to wake you up, "A game of wits. Sounds interesting. What would we be doing?"

Sans sat up straighter, apparently pleased you were considering his suggestion, "simple. we'd pun back and forth at each other until one of us fails to do so."

You hummed, considering, "I'm in for that, but what was this you were saying about a wager?"

Sans snorted, "well i figured that part was simple enough to understand. whoever wins gets something, perhaps at the other's expense."

"Yeah, I got that, but I'm asking what I'd be getting or losing," you stuck your tongue out. Childish, maybe, but it got your irritation at his smart*ssery out loud and clear.

"well," he twiddled his thumbs, thinking, "if you win i'll show you the stack of human movies that we've collected from the dump." He saw your face light up, "that's right. something to watch other than people getting torn to shreds."

You gave him a small glare. He had to have been hiding those for leverage. Still, it was an appealing offer. "What would you want if you win?"

He didn't even hesitate, "i want you to touch me while we watch mettaton's shows."

You wanted to explode, but you didn't. Instead, you took a deep breath and cursed him out as calmly as you could. "What the f*ck, you d*ck. I thought we were getting to be on semi-friendly terms here and you've got this weird sh*t? I mean come on."

His face became puzzled, like he was trying to figure out what he did wrong. Then, it clicked. "oh sh*t no. that's not what i meant. here i am trying my hardest not to be a creep. i didn't even mean you, like, cuddling me. i meant, uh, like, holding hands."

It was cute to see him flustered. No. Nope. Take that thought back right now. "Okay, then. Less bad. But why do you even want to hold hands? Isn't the whole point of this to just kill me after the month is over?"

His face turned red, embarrassed. "look, you might not sense it because you're disturbed by the shows as well, but I ain't exactly great at stomaching all the gore that can be on 'em sometimes. Soulmates are automatically comforted if they are touching each other. It would just be a way to help both of us cope with the violence for the time bein'."

Okay. You still weren't exactly comfortable around him, but it wouldn't be horrible if you lost the bet. You could do this. "You're on for the pun war."

Blush fading, his cocky smile returned, "you're going down."

-[]-

You laughed at your own joke, the war at this point going strong for a good fifteen minutes. Sans and you had slowly moved closer, getting in each other's faces with one awful joke after another.

"ya shouldn't do that, ya know," Sans grabbed your hand and pulled it down away from your face.

"I will laugh at my own jokes if I want to! And I didn't hear a pun. Do you admit defeat?" You took a dramatic stance, puffing your chest out and placing your hands on your hips.

"alright, i agree. i didn't make a joke there, and i'm defeated," he grumbled, leaning back onto the couch. "i wasn't sayin' ya shouldn't laugh at your jokes though. hell, i laugh at mine all the time. i was saying ya shouldn't cover your face like that. why do ya do that anyway?"

Huh. He was talking about a habit of yours, covering your mouth when you laughed. "Well, I remember that someone once told me that I look weird when I laugh. I guess I just subconsciously took it to heart."

He looked personally offended. "they were wrong. ya don't look weird when ya laugh. ya look-"

The door swung open and shut with a slam, the aroma of greasy food filling the atomosphere.

"THERE!" Papyrus yelled, throwing a bag in your direction, "SOME GROSS FOOD. NOW I'M GOING TO GO SEARCH THE UNDERNET FOR A WAY TO RID MY HOUSE OF THIS HORRIBLE SMELL."

He dramatically stomped upstairs, and you ripped open the bag and pulled out your burger and fries. "Yessssss," you hissed. Then, pausing, you searched the bag. "Sans, I think he forgot your food. All that's in here is a mustard bottle." Sans looked like he was about to interrupt, but you kept speaking. "Do you want to share?"

He laughed, but it wasn't his usual deep, confident laugh. It was a nervous one, covering up his surprise. "uh, no. ya don't need to share with me. just hand me the mustard, will ya?"

You did as he asked and had to hold back a gag as he popped open the lid and took a swig.

"don't knock it kid. ya just _mustard_ try some." He offered the bottle to you, a red tongue coming out between his teeth to clean off some of the yellow condiment.

It was your turn to laugh, chuckling at the oddity of the offer and the idea of skeleton's having tongues.

And you made a conscious effort not to cover your face.

-[]-

The next week was full of movies. Sans had lost the bet. Disney. Pixar. Dreamworks.

You thought that maybe the reason he had hid them was because he didn't like them, but you could tell that he actually really enjoyed them. There was a warmth you could sense during the heartwarming cheesiness of the films.

Eventually you figured out the reason he hadn't brought them up was Papyrus. He didn't like the movies, and Sans would automatically switch the television over to Mettaton whenever he came home.

At one point you tried to ask why he did that. Sans stated lazily that 'boss liked to have mettaton in the background' and that was all he would give you. It did give you some awareness, despite its unclear glory, and you began to notice that although Papyrus never sat down to watch the shows, he loitered. He would take a particularly long time to clean the living room or, more awkwardly, would stand perfectly still in a corner of the living room and stare, glaring down at the television.

This unfortunately meant that you were not completely free from watching the messed up TV down here. A few days after the bet you had considered. Sans had said that touching would comfort you both.

Scooting over to the middle cushion, you reached out and grabbed his hand.

Sans flinched in surprise, starting to pull his hand away, but you wouldn't let him. "ya don't have to do that. i lost, i get it. i know i make you uncomfortable. go on, head back over to ya side of the couch."

You smiled knowingly at him. "This isn't for you. It's for me. You were the one that said contact would be a comfort."

He was dumbfounded. "yeah, i did. that's true. uh."

It seemed like he was going to go on rambling for longer, but you lightly squeezed his hand and turned your attention back to the television. He stopped talking and mostly relaxed, but gave you a light squeeze back in return.

Within a day you noticed the difference. Holding his hand made you feel a little less sick to your stomach watching, and it was nice. It wasn't that whatever you were watching seemed less horrible to you. It was more like there was a gentle assurance through the bond that you were there for each other.

You felt comfortable and safe, so it was no surprise to you when you started nodding off. It was a surprise to Sans, however, when you did fall asleep and your unconscious form leaned against him and automatically snuggled in.

He didn't move you, and when you woke up from your brief nap, you didn't bother moving away.

From that point forward you always sat together like that.

-[]-

At the end to the third week you woke up panicked. You were fighting. Was that a human? No. Demon. A playback showed you monsters dying over and over. You'd seen it happen again and again. You were fighting. Maybe you could do it this time, get them to stop, protect your brother.

Realization came. These weren't your memories. Calm came over you, but you could still feel that panic in the background, frantic and churning.

It had to be Sans. You pulled yourself up off the couch and ran up the stairs without much thought, tossing open the door to his room.

Red magic leaked from his closed eye, face contorted into a mask of terror. He had managed to kick all his sheets off; they formed a tangled mess at the end of his bed. The trash tornado, terrifying enough, was responding to his magic, red and turning at an intensified rate.

You should have been terrified, but instead, you walked over to the bed with purpose and laid beside him.

Grabbing hold of his trembling form, you pulled him to you, his head pressed against your chest. "Shhhhh, you're not alone."

He began to struggle with less vigor, slowly relaxing into you. "You're okay, shhhhh."

You let your fingers gently trace his skull, petting, consoling him. "Shhhhh, just breathe."

The light behind his closed socket finally disappeared, and he sighed, leaning further into you.

"There you go. Just sleep." You weren't sure if he had even woken up. Either way, he seemed calm now. You quietly observed his sleeping face. When he was like this, the strained smile loosened. He was still smiling, but it was more natural this way.

You yawned. You'd just stay a few more minutes to make sure he was going to be okay. Then you would head back downstairs and go back to sleep.

-[]-

Your sleeping form was curled against his side.

He had known something was up when he woke up feeling fine. Normally he just didn't let himself sleep for long. Easiest way to avoid the nightmares. But when he did really sleep, normally it was a horrorshow that he would wake from screaming.

And there you were. You must have come in and somehow calmed him down. He wasn't sure how you did it. After all, Paps had tried before and found it a lost cause. He didn't care though, he was just glad you had.

He wanted to thank you, tell you how much it meant to him, but he didn't want to wake you either. You were so peaceful, cuddled beside him, the bond giving him readings of the gentle happiness that good dreams give.

Sh*t. He cared about you. You were beautiful the way you were right now. He wanted nothing more than to be able to stay right there, forever. Though, at the same time, he really wanted to kiss you.

Shifting slightly, you woke up, more comfortable than you had been your entire life. You were not on the couch. Your tired eyes tried to focus on what was in front of you. Red shirt. Oh, so that was…

Sans. As you looked up to face him he was… were those hearts in his f*cking eyes? But that wasn't just it. His entire gaze was like he was staring at the most amazing thing he had ever seen. It was… embarrassing? Touching? You weren't sure.

A skeletal hand hesitantly came up and caressed your cheek, "thank you. for helping me."

So he did know that you'd helped him. A warm feeling blossomed in your chest. And he had thanked you, he appreciated you.

Sh*t. You cared about him. You'd say that it was some odd Stockholm syndrome, but with everything else, you weren't so sure. The jokes, the nightmares, the connection that you could literally feel in your soul. You were soulmates, and you worked together.

Smiling, you realized that you had to be looking at him the same way, because he cautiously leaned down and nuzzled your cheek with his teeth. You realized that this was his form of a kiss. It was strange; you were able to feel each tooth, the gold one cold against your skin.

You stiffened in surprise, and he immediately pulled away. "i'm sorry. i-i just wanted to… and you… you look so beautiful… i just had to kiss you… i'm… sorry."

You stared emptily for a second. It wasn't that you didn't like the kiss, you were just caught off guard. And now you were curious.

Placing a hand on either side of his skull, you pulled him in for a real kiss, your lips pressing down on his teeth. Though he froze for a moment, he quickly wrapped his arms around you and returned the pressure.

It _was_ strange, the simple turning of his head that he gave definitely not the same as lips, but all the affection was there and you loved it.

After a moment you moved away, his arms still wrapped around you. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to, and it looked like you wanted to too."

He sighed, pulling you closer to him, and you obliged, cuddling into his chest.

"ya know sweetheart, i think i might care about you."

You let out a happy hum as he gently rubbed your back. "I think I might care about you too."

-[]-

You started to sleep in Sans' room.

Kisses on the cheek and passing touches, though less so when Papyrus was home.

Shared stories of positive memories.

Shared comfort with negative memories.

Bad jokes and good fun.

The last week went by fast.

-[]-

"SANS!" Papyrus burst into the bedroom, waking you both rather suddenly.

"why so early, boss?" Sans groaned, rubbing his socket with one hand and holding your hand with the other.

Since you had started sleeping in each other's company you were both able to rest soundly through the night. A discovery was made: both of you liked a good sleep almost as much as you liked each other, having been deprived of it for so long.

This did not make you morning people.

Papyrus actually grabbed Sans and threw him out of the bed. "IT IS TIME SANS. THIRTY DAYS. YOU CAN BREAK THE BOND NOW."

That was enough to wake you both up. You shot out of bed like a rocket, Sans jumped up from the crumpled pile he had become on the floor.

"Is it really that time already?" you wandered over to Sans and brushed some imaginary dirt off of his shoulder. You were afraid to look him in the eye. Maybe it had been a fluke. You were terrified that you were going to look at him and his gaze would be hard and cruel, ready to kill. It would be easy, right? After all, your soul meant their freedom.

Papyrus tapped his foot impatiently. "YES, HUMAN. NOW ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SAY YOU DON'T WANT THE BOND. EITHER OF YOU. THEN IT WILL CEASE TO BE."

"boss- bro –i don't think i can."

What was that? You looked up at him. His expression was pained, and one of his hands came up to caress your face.

Magic flashed into existence. "RIDICULOUS, BROTHER . THIS CANNOT CONTINUE. BREAK THE BOND SO I CAN DELIVER THEM TO ASGORE."

Papyrus made a grab at you, but Sans pushed you back, stepping in the way. "i'm not doing it. we belong together. i can feel it." Sans' voice changed into something you had never heard before, " **you should know better than to ask this of us. you know the pain of breaking the bond with someone you care for.** "

Papyrus' eyes widened, and with an angry hiss he raised his clawed glove. A row of red bones appeared, aimed directly at Sans and you. "NO. YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO SPEAK OF THAT."

Well. You were going to die. With that look on his face, the bones, yeah, you were going to die. So you might as well ask your question.

"Wait. I thought that your soulmate was Mettaton?"

Papyrus' glare faltered, the bones flickering. "YES. HE IS."

"So what are you going on about? You clearly love him, not letting Sans talk smack and watching all of his shows. What do you mean you broke the bond?"

He collapsed, bones disappearing. "I do love him, and that is why I broke the bond."

"Sans?" you looked to your soulmate for more explaination.

He was sorry for upsetting his brother, but spoke anyway. "no one in the underground knows that pap and metta are soulmates, and they were careful to keep it that way. remember what i told you earlier about how most monsters treat this relationship?"

You nodded, you remembered too well.

"well, with papyrus as vice-captain of the royal guard and mettaton as the star of the underground, both of their lives are highly scrutinized and highly public. if people knew, there would be kind of an expectation- for both of them- to publicly fight for dominance. paps would be expected to be in charge or he would be known as the laugh of a royal guard. mettaton would be expected to be in charge or he would lose all respect his viewers had for him."

Papyrus interjected, taking over in a broken voice. "He said he would let me. He would give up his respect for me. But even if that was okay, we still wouldn't be happy. We wouldn't be able to live together. All of our interactions would have to be violent. Every time we would run into each other in public I would have to play the terrible papyrus, and everyone would expect me to… I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't treat him that way, so I broke off the bond. Mettaton didn't see my logic. He was very distressed. After all, when the bond is broken there is no fixing it."

He stood, trying to regain some semblance of control, "We don't speak anymore."

Well. That was awful. "I am so sorry, Papyrus. This wasn't mine to know. A certain _somebody_ should have left well enough alone." You sent a glare at Sans that should have been able to drain the 1 hp right out of him.

"i would apologize, but don't you see, bro? we could be happy here. you could keep telling people that i'm sick, or hell, that you've finally dusted me. we would just stay here, together," Sans took your hand again, clutching it desperately as he made his case. "don't make me live as a broken half like you."

Papyrus didn't speak for a long while.

He actually didn't speak for the rest of the day.

No one did.

There was just silence, you and Sans clinging to each other.

Finally, Papyrus returned to the room.

"I WILL ALLOW IT."

He left.

But you weren't paying attention to that. You were too busy hugging Sans to you, both of you crying tears of relief.

-[]-

Another month. It was wonderful.

You all had figured out a rather smooth scheme. Papyrus told everyone that Sans had finally died, and it didn't seem like anyone had any doubts.

There was the problem of when people wanted to come visit Papyrus for any reason, but Sans actually thought of something for that. Papyrus boarded up the door to Sans' room and told whoever came to visit that it was a disaster area, completely unsalvageable. Whenever someone came to the house, Sans would teleport you both inside the room and you were very quiet until Papyrus gave the okay that they were gone.

This left Sans and you free. Well, free as long as you stayed inside. You didn't mind the house arrest, though. For the first time in a long time, you were happy. You thought that it would last.

It's no wonder you didn't predict them coming.

-[]-

"okay, sweetheart, it's okay," Sans tried to comfort you as you sat sobbing next to the barrier.

"It is not okay, Sans! I told you that it wouldn't help coming here! There isn't any way for us to get out!" You could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the other room, Papyrus apparently still holding his own against the guard.

Sans joined you on the ground. "well, actually," he grabbed your hand, pressing something into it.

You stared down in horror before throwing the knife away. "Don't you even suggest that!"

He shrugged. "if ya kill me and take my soul you can pass through the barrier. if ya don't, then you'll die with me."

"I can't hurt you." You slapped him as he started to levitate the knife back over, "And I won't let you hurt yourself for me either, bonehead."

He groaned and pulled you into a tight embrace. "why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Was this really going to be it? Everything ending because you all had missed something? Something had given you away, but even one small mistake was enough to ruin everything.

"I don't want to lose you," you cried into his shoulder.

He pushed you away from him and held you at arms' length. "look at me. if there is one thing for certain, we won't lose each other. we're soulmates. the universe will find a way to bring us together again."

A flash ran through your mind as you remembered something from Sans' nightmare. There were resets, awful resets, just like he had told you, but for a second there was something different. Sans, clad in blue, and someone, you, sitting together on a bench, watching some kid play in the snow.

With that, you knew that Sans was right. "I love you."

His smile faltered, frustrated sadness cracking his voice, "i love you too. now let's go and try to fight the entire underground."

Sans was strong and you were determined, but it wasn't enough.

As a blow finally caught him and he started to turn to dust, you saw the flash of red light come toward you, and you felt a small pain in your chest.

You collapsed. Sans was within crawling distance, and you moved slowly over to him.

"You killed me," you coughed.

"i couldn't let them have you."

You reached out your hand, and he grabbed it with what little strength he had left.

It was going to be okay. You would see him again.

By the time the monsters got across the room, all that was left was your soulless body, your hand curled around a small pile of dust.


	2. Mobtale

You kept your coat wrapped tight around you, able to feel the pressure of the envelope with your paycheck against your side. You just had to get home.

It was that happy and anxious time of the month again. You still couldn't figure out why your good-for-nothing boss thought it was a good idea to send his barkeeps home once monthly with all their cash rather than paying them at the end of the week. You always felt like you were going to get mugged.

Still, the weight against you felt good. It meant food, rent for the next month. Working in the speakeasy may be illegal, but you didn't care as long as it paid the bills.

Your guard increased as you approached your part of town. It got rougher down here, since you lived near the edge of the undertown area. No wealthy humans would ever be caught dead in this area, much less living in it.

You, meanwhile, didn't mind your residence was close to the monsters. You tried to stay neutral on the mob wars between the two sides of the city, so it wasn't like you had the irrational hatred of monsters that most humans had. That and you had your special talents to protect you, though you had been careful to keep them hidden for the most part.

As you turned onto your street, you heard a crash. There were some flashes of orange light you could see in the alleyway at the end of the block, as well as a few familiar pops from automatic weapons.

You let out a sigh. Really? There was fighting in the neighborhood again? And at this time of night? Still, you glanced around, with the magic energy vibrating around the place no one would notice if you would… with a flash the envelope was teleported away, safe at home.

Now you could go see what was going on, maybe break it up. Normally it was just stupid kids in this area anyway, and they stopped once they knew there were witnesses.

You ran down the street, making your way to the opening of the alley and glancing in. Surveying, you could see that it was a real mess. Three wannabe human mobsters (you could tell because they weren't wearing anything that would tie them to a particular gang), had cornered a lone skeleton monster (the source of the orange magic).

The skeleton was in a dire situation. Backed into a corner, he was just desperately trying to block the teasing shots the humans were shooting.

"I WAS HERE ON BUISNESS. I WAS JUST TALKING TO THE LEADER OF THIS AREA ABOUT A TRADE AGREEMENT ON MAGIC PRODUCTS," he was trying to reason with them, despite their clear malice.

"Yeah, right. Like any human would be working with monster scum!" one of the assailants fired a few rounds next to the skeleton's head, and his companions laughed.

Ugh. You didn't take sides in the monster-human conflict, but you did take sides against idiotic *ssholes, and these guys definitely fell into that category. How did the idiots think magic-laced liquor got to humans if they didn't trade with monsters?

There was already a monster filling up the alley with magic, you assured yourself, no one would notice if there was a little bit more.

Hiding yourself around the corner, you mentally reached out toward the moronic humans. There they were, your mind found their souls. The one that responded to the skeleton seemed to be the ringleader. You let out a small laugh. Let's see how the others react without their leader.

You lit him up. You knew without watching that his soul became visible, turned a dark blue, and you could hear his confused cry. Reaching a hand out, you jerked it to the left. There was a slam as he hit the side of one of the buildings. Jerk right. Another slam. Then, a gentle thud as you released him on the ground.

"Th- there's another monster hiding somewhere!" one of the others yelled.

"We have to get out of here!" the other agreed.

Within seconds, they were running out of the alleyway, the two supporting their now injured leader. You slunk back into the shadows, them passing you by without even looking in your direction.

You just planned on waiting a bit to make sure they were gone before heading home, but you started to hear a voice getting closer out of the alley. You clung to the wall, hoping that the monster would miss you too. It was much too late to deal with people or monsters.

"SANS!" he called.

"SANS, WHERE ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HIDING?"

"THAT WAS CLEARLY YOUR MAGIC. WHY WERE YOU EVEN HERE? I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF," he stopped, "NOT TO SAY I DIDN' T APPRECIATE THE HELP."

He reached the street. "SANS! OH!"

He looked directly at you. So much for getting away without being spotted.

His hands came up to rest on his lapels. "YOU ARE NOT SANS. YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL WANDERING AT NIGHT, THERE WERE SOME VERY DANGEROUS PEOPLE ABOUT JUST NOW. SPEAKING OF WHICH, HAVE YOU SEEN A SHORT, LAZY MONSTER? IT IS LIKE HE IS PLAYING A GAME."

"No. Haven't seen anyone like that, sorry." You stated shortly.

The look of disappointment on his face almost got to you. "I JUST DON' T UNDERSTAND. THAT BLUE MAGIC RIGHT THEN WAS HIS. I KNOW WHAT HIS MAGIC IS LIKE."

Now that was something that could pique your interest. That wasn't this 'Sans' person's magic, it was yours, but apparently it was close enough for this monster to confuse. That could mean… you had to risk it. You had to know.

"Uh. Do you mean this magic?" with a snap of your fingers a blue glow formed around your hand, and you gently waved it back and forth for the monster to see.

He was flabbergasted, watching the light move. "YOU- BUT SANS! THEN THAT MEANS-" He suddenly pulled himself together, "I AM SORRY. I HAVE NOT INTRODUCED MYSELF. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. THAT WAS VERY RUDE OF ME, AND I AM SORRY BUT I AM GOING TO HAVE TO BE RUDE AGAIN. YOU WILL HAVE TO COME WITH ME."

"Are you going to take me to him?" the magic pulsed at your thrill.

"OF COURSE, HUMAN." Papyrus reached down and took your other hand, excitedly pulling you down the street.

Sans. You thought to yourself as the monster led you past the sign that marked the beginning of the undertown and the unknown. You weren't concerned since you could teleport away at any moment you liked, and it was worth the risk.

For this 'Sans'.

-[]-

About halfway there Papyrus had pulled the colored ribbon off his hat and covered your eyes, apologizing for not thinking of it earlier.

"NOW WE CAN AVOID THE WHOLE 'IF I SHOW YOU I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU' NONSENSE. I JUST WON'T SHOW YOU WHERE OUR BASE IS. NYEH HEH HEH." He was very proud of himself.

From that point forward you had no idea where you were going. It felt like Papyrus was leading you all over the place. After awhile you had reached a building of some sort. You had heard a sound of confusion over you from what you would guess was a guard, but then Papyrus' voice, for once quiet and indiscernible, interjected. You quickly heard an 'oh' of understanding, and Papyrus had ushered you inside. As you made your way through the building you ran into that several more times, but you were never stopped for long.

Finally, Papyrus announced that you had arrived. "HERE WE ARE HUMAN. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT SANS IS IN A MEETING WITH THE BOSS RIGHT NOW, BUT I DO BELIEVE THIS TAKES PRECIDENCE. HERE WE GO!"

Before you could complain about not wanting to interrupt the meeting or the fact you were still blindfolded, Papyrus had all but tossed you into the room.

The chatter you first heard came to an abrupt stop. You were certain that you were blushing redder than a tomato as you lifted the ribbon up off your eyes.

You blinked repeatedly as you got used to the light again, and the room slowly came into focus. It was a meticulously organized office, with a skeleton monster sitting behind a large desk. He had two cracks running through his skull, and he also looked completely done. In a chair facing the desk was another skeleton. He was shorter and squatter, and he also looked like he had never been more amused in his entire life. What, was this a monster mob made completely of skeletons?

 _"PAPYRUS, WHY IS THERE A HUMAN IN MY OFFICE?_ " The monster behind the desk spoke in a language that you couldn't understand. It sounded like an odd spattering of static to you. Still, you could tell from his expression that he was not pleased.

 _"GIVE ME A CHANGE TO EXPLAIN_." Papyrus responded in the same language.

 _"hey, guys. maybe we should talk in a font they'll understand. we aren't exactly playin' fair now, and i'm sure paps brought 'em here for a good reason."_ the last skeleton interjected. It sounded like the same language, but not quite. It was quieter. More reserved.

"Very well," the one behind the desk spoke, his voice well-put together when he wasn't speaking whatever the hell that was. "Papyrus, would you care to explain?"

"YES, SIR, MR. GASTER. I WAS OVER IN THE SURFACE HEIGHTS DOING BUISNESS. I WILL GIVE MY REPORT ON THAT LATER BY THE WAY; I DO BELIEVE THAT IT WENT WELL. ON MY WAY BACK THESE HUMANS ATTACKED ME AND I WAS TRYING TO NOT HURT THEM. YOU KNOW HOW THE HUMAN MOBS GET WHEN A MONSTER HURTS A HUMAN, EVEN IN SELF DEFENSE."

The other two gave understanding nods.

"SO THESE HORRIBLE HUMANS ATTACKED ME AND…"

Mr. Gaster interrupted. "Oh, so is this one of them? We do normally play on the safe side when it comes to handling humans, but we are in the middle of negotiations. Having a human hostage might not be a bad idea."

"OH, NO, THAT ISN'T THE CASE AT ALL." Papyrus frantically waved his arms.

The smaller skeleton chuckled and grabbed a glass off the desk and took a sip. Looked like whiskey. You felt like you could really use some of that in this situation.

Sighing, Gaster steepled his fingers, "Then please get to the point, Papyrus."

"THIS HUMAN SAVED ME, AND THEY ARE SANS' SOULMATE."

The only clue to Gaster's shock was a slight raising of his skeletal brow.

That only left other person in the room to respond, the one that by process of elimination you were assuming was Sans.

He spat out his drink, coughing and pounding on his chest.

-[]-

"so, uh. how do ya want to do this?"

Sans and you were sitting awkwardly across from each other on the couch in his apartment. After you had stopped the liquor mid-air so it wouldn't splatter across the desk, there was a hush of understanding that came over the room. Mr. Gaster excused Sans, suggesting that you two go up to Sans' room. He would make sure that no one would come up looking for him.

Sans had stood and grabbed your waist. "i'm goin' to guess you're familiar with teleportin'?" he asked nervously. At your nod, you felt the world vanish around you before landing in the living area of his apartment. That left you where you were currently, both of you uncomfortable and accessing the situation.

When you had discovered that you had magic you had read up on monsters. You knew that human soulmates shared traits and sometimes abilities, but you were amazed to learn that monster soulmates could share powers. So you were either a mage, rare nearly to the point of myth in the modern age, or your soulmate was a monster. If it was the former, it meant you didn't have a soulmate. If it was the latter, it meant that you would probably never find your soulmate due to the segregation of the city.

You had been fine with that, but now here you were facing down a small skeleton monster with what seemed like a permanent grin on his face.

"doll? doll?" a skeletal hand waved in front of your face. "are ya okay? ya blanked on me for a minute there."

You smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry. Just- nervous. After all it could be _soul-crushing_ if I'm wrong. Emotionally. Or also physically. I mean, you could just kill me the second I call my soul out." You let out an uneasy laugh.

He tilted his hat back and pulled his cigar out of his mouth, extinguishing it in the ashtray on the side table. "how about this: i'll call out my soul first. i'll let you hold it while you call out yours. i wouldn't be able to hurt ya while ya have it. i only have 1 hp. hell, if ya hold it too hard i'll be dust."

You gasped at the offer. "Why would you do that? After all, I could hurt you. I might just be some crazy human that happens to have similar powers."

He chuckled. "it's weird that you're human, i'm not gonna lie. but, i know how monster soulmates work, and with what pap says he saw and what i saw in the office, we're all but certainly a pair."

Taking a deep breath, you nodded and cupped your hands in front of you.

Understanding, Sans' grin widened, and a glow started in his chest. Within a few seconds he made a forwards movement with one of his hands and an inverted blue heart floated out and away from him. Gently, you reached out, and it settled in a hover in your hands.

Now that you saw it, you knew for certain, and your excitement overwhelmed you. A blue glow exploded from you, and a small blue heart zoomed out of your chest. It floated beside the other; it's color, shape, and size matching perfectly other than the fact that it wasn't upside down.

Sans' gaze became something very tender, and he reached out toward it. Before, you had hesitations, but now you helped fly the small heart into his grasp. You could trust him. You were a match, perfect for each other.

"it's beautiful," he whispered reverently, staring at the glowing heart.

You felt the same way about his, but even during this special moment you felt the need to make a joke. "I don't know what you're going on about. It just looks like yours."

"it's beautiful because it does look like mine, but it doesn't belong to me," his eyes lit up. He had caught your joke, but had decided to answer seriously anyway. "and it's also beautiful because i was real afraid that i would never see one like it."

That was confusing and concerning. Why would he have thought…? It didn't matter. You'd know soon enough.

"Well. Are you ready?" you had butterflies in your stomach again, but not the bad kind this time.

"more than." If it were possible, you were pretty sure his grin got wider.

The two of you brought the hearts up to each other, closing the distance between them slowly… slowly…

You were suddenly hit by a rush of emotion.

-[]-

Soul communication was a weird experience, especially when you did it for the first time. Or, at least, that was what everyone had always told you.

They weren't wrong.

It was like you were traveling at light speed through Sans' mind, everything passing by so fast it was a blur. Yet, you were still completely absorbing everything you saw.

Gaster was his father, Papyrus his brother. Gaster hadn't found his soulmate, instead creating Sans and Papyrus out of his lone soul.

Slum life filled his early days, then there were years of Sans taking care of Papyrus while their father worked until Gaster told Sans that he had started to work for the mob. They needed to fight back, work against the corrupt government system for the better of all monster kind. Of course, it also helped that mob life paid well too.

Years of trading booze, magic, and information. Monster mobs disagreeing on how exactly to handle things, but staying relatively friendly. Human mobs coming into their part of town and being irrationally violent.

There was death. Too much death. Death of friends and death of those murderers by his own hands. He supposed that made him a murderer too. Oh, well. Protect everyone, especially Paps, repeated in his mind over and over.

Concern and over protectiveness when Papyrus found Mettaton. Based off of all the outside clues they were probably soulmates, but could Sans really trust anyone getting that close to his baby bro? And since he and Paps were created from an individual, normally those offspring don't have soulmates. It could be a fluke. But, he couldn't protect his brother from the inevitable. Papyrus and Mettaton made the public announcement soon after. By then Gaster was running the mob, and he gave Mettaton a job as an entertainer at their different establishments to involve him in the business. After all, it had begun to turn into a family business: him, Sans, Papyrus, Papyrus' soulmate.

More time passed and Sans still didn't run into any monster that was the one made for him. Actually, it was random chance that Papyrus had a soulmate. It was much more likely that he didn't have one and the whole thing with Papyrus was just random chance.

Repetition. Same thing. Day in. Day out. Nothing much changed, he just did his job.

And that's when you caught up to the present.

He loved you. He was amazed that you existed and he loved you. You could feel it, so strong, and you were sure that he was feeling the same thing from you. After all, soulmates automatically loved each other. The hard part was just finding them.

-[]-

Your soul rushed back into you and Sans' flew back into him. After too much contact they automatically return to their proper bodies.

You were both gasping for air, laughing and crying.

"Sans!" You finally called out, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry! You've gone through so much and it took me so long to find you. You waited so long, I'm sorry!"

He returned the hug, one hand comfortingly rubbing your back. "no. don't apologize. i should be the one apologizing, doll. by the time you were born, i had given up. you were right on the edge of the undercity, if i hadn't stopped lookin' i would've found ya by now, stopped everything that you went through. i'm sorry."

You giggled, wiping away your tears. That was right. You had forgotten. Monsters had longer lifespans than humans. They took longer to mature, but once they reached adulthood they aged about the same.

"I should have known that you were old enough to be my great-grandfather," you whispered teasingly.

He leaned back. "oh? and why is that?"

"You waited so long you're literally nothing but bones."

You both laughed and quickly got to planning. There was so much to do. You had to plan the announcement (that would have to happen sometime in the next week). You had to inform your landlord that you were leaving (Now that you found you soulmate you would have to move into his place. Human landlords didn't allow monster tenants). You had to go get your stuff (not that you had that much to move). Busy. Busy. Busy.

-[]-

Papyrus was in the front row, cheering the loudest as both you and Sans finished making your formal public announcement, completing the ceremony with an exchange of lockets. "NYEH HEH HEH! I AM CERTAIN THAT YOU WILL LIVE HAPPILY BROTHER… AND NEW SIBLING!"

The robot next to him blew a kiss at the two of you, but you knew better than to find that strange. You had met Mettaton before the ceremony, and he had been gushing over your outfit. "Marvelous! Marvelous!" You could almost hear his voice. Actually, you could. He had started to shout the same thing again.

The guests quickly broke up, the after party starting.

"let me help you with that, darlin'," you felt a tug at your sleeve. Sans was gesturing between his locket (already on) and yours (in your hand).

Bending down, you passed your necklace to Sans so he could hook it around your neck. You started to stand back up, but instead he took advantage of your current height, pulling you down and into a kiss. You could hear some monsters with less manners whistling in the background.

After a minute he released you, with a stupid content look on his face. "Haveta let you breathe. Since I don't have lungs n' all, makes it real hard not to just kiss ya forever."

Blushing, your hand raised up to feel the new weight resting on your chest. The little lockets were normally identical, showing that you were confident in your soul and had found your soulmate. Yours and Sans' were a special case, made so that you could have an inverted heart locket like his soul and he a regular one like your soul.

"Well you aren't avoiding the issue by stopping, because you still _take my breath away_." You pressed another gentle kiss to his teeth before standing straight again.

"doll!" he whined soft enough for only you to hear, complaining because you face was now out of his kissing range.

"We have to go handle guests," you offered a hand to him.

He rolled his eyes and begrudgingly took your hand, "you're right. prepare to be bored out of your mind."

He was right. As per tradition you had to be introduced to everyone that his family invited. Technically, he was supposed to meet everyone your family invited too, but you didn't have anyone, so this was just going to be a lot of new people for you.

You put on the friendliest smile you could muster (and being a barkeep, that was quite the smile) and you and Sans stepped into the fray.

-[]-

Life was good. Gaster had gotten you a position at one of the monster speakeasies he owned close to Surface Heights, Grillby's, and Sans had been moved to position of permanent guard of the place so he didn't have to be too far from you.

Every night was a fun time, you and the 'owner', Grillby, handling the customers while Sans sat and watched everyone coming in and out. Though, he did have to admit, he spent a good portion of the nights watching you too.

Sans took up a residency at the bar. That stool? His stool. That end of the table? His end of the table. That barkeep? His barkeep.

It took awhile for some of them to get used to a human being there, but for the regulars all it took was an explanation from Sans for them to accept your right to be there. From that point forward they just had to put up with your unabashed flirting.

Of course, you occasionally ran into the cold-hearted bigot that yelled about how it was wrong that you and Sans were soulmates, that you both were lying and getting some strange perverted pleasure out of it. That always made you laugh. What they hell did these people think that you and Sans did other than kiss and soul-communicate, two innocent and purely romantic things? He is literally a skeleton? Being the boss' boy, Sans was allowed to throw anyone like that out, so you didn't have to deal with them that often.

-[]-

You and Sans were laughing at a joke when he suddenly froze.

"Sans?" you questioned, terrified something was wrong. His eyes had gone empty, black and pupiless.

"grillbz, hit the button."

Grillby moved and hit something under his side of the bar. In a flash, a fake wall popped up behind you, covering the booze. Sans turned and raised his hand, blue magic suddenly taking all the alcoholic beverages from anyone in the speakeasy and teleporting them somewhere.

His pupils returned and grabbed you, suddenly teleporting you into the middle of the dance floor. "how about we charleston, darling?"

Now you got what was going on. Taking his lead, you just started to dance when the door swung open. Everyone on the dance floor stopped immediately. Filling the door was Asgore, vice-mayor of the whole city and legal leader of the undertown. He stepped into the room with purpose, Grillby stepping out from behind the counter to meet him halfway.

"…what can I do… for you… today… sir," Grillby barely crackled with nerves.

"I was in the area and I decided to check on a rumor I had heard about this place."

You could feel your hair start to stand on end. If he caught onto the illegal alcohol there was nothing you all could do. If Asgore was hurt in one of Gaster's bars, it could start an all-out war amongst different monster gangs, depending on what their opinion of him was. There was differing information as to who he was on the take for, or if he was corrupt at all. Either way, he wasn't on your guys' side.

Asgore glanced around the room, looking at everyone, until he stopped on you. His eyes trailed down to find your hand in Sans', caught mid-dance step. He stepped toward you, his long strides quickly closing the distance. "So," he spoke half to himself and half to you, "there is a human here, with a mob monster."

"ya haven't got any proof on me yet, asgore," Sans growled, clutching your hand tighter.

Asgore ignored Sans, still focused on you. "Are you here against your will?"

Well that was offending. Without taking your necklace off, you grabbed it and tried your best to shove it in his face. "I'm here with Sans. He is my soulmate. Stop pestering us."

His eyes widened at the locket, "I apologize. I had to make certain." His naturally commanding voice dropped so that only you and Sans could hear (you assumed that this was some sort of magic and not just luck). "I would be careful. People aren't happy with you two. There just might be an attempt to harm you."

Sans released your hand, opting to instead grab your waist and pull you closer to him, "is that some sort of threat?"

Frustrated, Asgore shook his head, "No. I am here as a favor to Toriel."

Both you and Sans relaxed, now understanding. Toriel was well known for a few things: kindness towards everyone as a sympathizer for the monster cause, great pies, gathering information, and having pure burning hatred toward her soulmate. She separated from him after he got reelected, furious that he was still taking part in the corrupt political system that got their children killed. Word had reached you that she was happy that you, a monster-human couple, were living so happily. She hoped that you might become a symbol for a hopeful peace between the two sides of the city.

Asgore left awkwardly, departing without saying much else.

Sans held you tighter, and you wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

This had the potential to be very, very bad.

-[]-

You both had been so careful for months, MONTHS, and it still didn't matter.

Helpless, you sat beside Sans' hospital bed.

You were crying again. What was this, the third time this week? It didn't matter. This idiot. You were going to kill him when he woke up.

If he woke up. With that, another bout of tears sprang up.

It was a miracle that he wasn't dust. At least he was alive. You should be thankful. The doctors and nurses words bounced around in your head.

He would've been fine. You both saw the assailants, you both could have teleported away separately, but no, this idiot had to jump in front of you. This idiot had to grab your hand as the bullet hit him, teleporting you both away.

If he had teleported away any later the bullet would have completely cracked his skull, he'd be dead. Instead, all it did was break one tooth. There was a gap in his smile now where that stupid tooth used to be. It was so stupid. Why was that enough to hurt him? Why was he still smiling, even in this comatose state? Why did he get himself hurt? Why? Why? Why?

Sobbing, you moved and sat next to him on the bed. You had been warned that trying to soul communicate might be harmful to you, but by this point, you couldn't give a single damn. It had been a year. It was last year today that this blockhead pulled his stupid stunt.

You pulled your soul out of your chest, letting it hover above him. You sat there, completely vulnerable, for fifteen minutes.

It was looking like time to give up, close up shop, come visit him again tomorrow, when a faint glow started in his chest. His soul didn't appear, but yours bobbed cheerfully in recognition of his glow. Within a moment, he opened his eyes.

"doll?" his voice sounded scratchy, rusty from lack of use.

"oh my gods," you threw your arms around him, and you felt him weakly place one on your back.

"i'm okay," he tried to assure you.

"You're okay?!" you exploded, pulling away from him, "You're okay?! You have been in a coma for a _year_. Let's make a few things clear. One, you are definitely not okay. Two, if you ever take a bullet for my useless *ss again I am going to shoot you."

You tried to convince yourself that you were still angry at him, but instead you leaned down and kissed him, the missing tooth an odd and unwelcome reminder of his stupidity. But you were still so happy. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

He was going to be okay.

You both were going to be okay.

And for years, everything was as normal as life could be for a mobster and his partner.

-[]-

You gracefully fell out of bed, stumbled like a ballerina down the hall, and managed to make it to the toilet to puke like a champ.

What the heck had you come down with? Your chest felt so heavy. It was tight and hard to breathe.

After managing to relieve yourself of all of last night's dinner, you stood up straight and stared in the mirror. Dark bags under your eyes, appealing traces of now drying vomit around your mouth. You were looking awful. And why was your chest to tight?

You took a deep breath. Then another. Then another. You realized after a second that you weren't having problems breathing at all. The feeling was coming from your heart or your soul… your soul!

Terrified that something might be wrong, you summoned it, the small blue heart becoming visible. You examined the side of it facing you, not seeing anything. What could be wrong?

Your pulse stopped as you caught sight of something on the other side of it in the mirror.

You screamed, and Sans was by your side in less than a second. "what's wrong, what's happened? are ya sick? do i need to get ya anywhere, get ya anythin'?" He was immediately examining you, questions running before slowly dying off, leaving one, "why's your soul out, doll?"

Kneeling to be beside him, you floated your soul down to his eye level. "Look," you whispered, spinning it round so he could see it. Embedded in your soul, just visible on the surface, was a nearly microscopic inverted white heart.

He stared, hands coming up and gently taking your soul, pulling it closer to him still. It took a awhile for him to get words out. "i-is that…"

"Yep." You smiled.

"so that means…"

"Yep." You kissed his cheek.

The disbelief was understandable, and to be completely honest, on both ends. Clearly, you and Sans weren't able to have children the human way, but apparently the monster way, a child formed out of love, compassion, and magic, was very possible.

He sat on the ground, still staring at the white speck, and you joined him.

"i'm goin' to be a father."

-[]-

You couldn't believe this was the last time that you were going to leave the mob headquarters as you stared at the exit doors, waiting for Sans.

Okay, so probably not the last time. You might end up visiting Papyrus and Gaster here from time to time. But it was the last time that you and Sans were going to be leaving as members.

Your hand drifted up to your chest, able to feel the warmth from your soul. Just another month. One more month and you'd have your darling little one. It was too dangerous for Sans and you to be involved in the mob work with them coming so soon.

Sans had more than enough to retire from his life of crime. You two were even thinking of trying to get out of the city, maybe get out to the country. Make a better life for them growing up than the two of you could have ever hoped for.

Sans had announced his plan to leave when you had found out you were going to have a kid, and this was the last day. He was just finalizing a few things with Gaster and then you both would be on your way out.

After what felt like forever, you heard his familiar footsteps coming down the hall. His arm wrapped around you as he came up to your side. "ya ready to go?"

You nodded, and the two of you made your way out the door.

Their forces were on you before you knew what hit you.

All you did know what that there was a lot of rapid movement, bullets flying, and you couldn't teleport anywhere which meant that there was at least one monster helping whoever was attacking you.

You could hear the angry crowd's hateful cries. There were humans and monsters, but they were all agreeing on one thing.

 **"** **Freakish skeleton lover!"**

 **"** **Monsters don't mix with humans!"**

 **"** **That child you're carrying will be a mutant disaster!"**

On and on as part of the crowd suddenly rushed you.

Sans pushed you to the side, taking the brunt of the brute force, but they still swarmed around him. It was a real shock when the knife slipped under your ribs. It had all happened too fast. There was nothing you could do.

"S-Sans-" you coughed, blood rising in your throat.

With a cry, sharpened blue bones shot up from the ground, impaling anyone that was close. The crowd dispersed quickly after that.

You collapsed, Sans catching you before you hit the ground. "no no no, doll. you're gonna be okay."

You coughed again, finding it difficult to talk.

Sans was whispering every swear he knew as he examined your wound, before gasping in remembrance. With a sharp tug, he pulled your soul out of your chest.

Your glow was fading, but the small while soul next to yours was fading even faster.

"sh*t no, no, no," he pulled his own soul out, holding it next to yours, trying desperately to do something, anything. An energy transfer, or move the kid to him, something, he didn't know.

It didn't work. You saw the glow stop right before your eyes, cracks forming in the small heart before it fell to dust.

A sob wracked you as your vision went black.

"doll. doll!" Sans shook you, "stay with me! you're too injured to teleport! paps is on his way down. he has healing magic, remember? doll?"

You weren't responding. Did you pass out? That had to be it, right?

But Sans knew that it was worse as his worst nightmare came to life right in front of him. A small crack at the bottom of your floating soul appeared, then spread suddenly. With a _crack_ , it shattered.

You…

You were gone.

And Sans held you, angry tears streaming down his face. He had been getting out. You had been getting out. You were leaving this violent life, together, and those idiots had taken it all from him.

"i-it's okay, doll," he gently laid your body on the ground, "i'll see ya again. we belong together. i know i'll see ya again. those idiots had their laugh. this isn't forever, i know that. but for now…"

He stood, starting to march down the street, following the frenzied path of the attackers that escaped, his left eye bursting into blue flame. " **i'm goin' to kill them all.** "


	3. Errortale

You knew that you weren't as broken as the doctors thought. It didn't matter what they said or your family said or what anyone else said. You might be broken, but they were looking in the wrong place.

For a long time you had held onto the idea that once you became an adult you would be able to leave all of the doctors' appointments behind. A fantasy idea that you would be able to slam the door on every one of them, laughing as you made way out into the world. Of course, that didn't happen. The second you were brought into your first specialist you were doomed to a life of needles and wasted days.

"I'm sorry. I've never seen this before. I'm going to recommend your child to a specialist."

"I have no clue how this could have happened. There is no mention of anything like this anywhere on record. I'm going to recommend them to a colleague to see what they think of this."

"Amazing! I mean- this is awful, but I am sure we can get to the bottom of it. We'll get them fixed. I think that we should run some texts…"

"Blood tests."

"Soul Scan."

"Magic injections."

It was sickening the amount of your memory that was in clean, white, hospitals. You swore you were fine, but that didn't stop them. Instead of playing and enjoying life, you spent your days being poked and prodded while simultaneously being touched as little as possible.

"We don't know if it can spread," filled your younger years.

"It doesn't seem to spread, but intense emotion from affection might be too much for them to handle," was a favorite of later years.

It didn't matter if it was human or monster doctors. They just wanted to experiment with the freak, see why you were this way. You were lucky enough to get it down to one appointment a year at 18, with one of the less irritating doctors…

The door opened, interrupting your thoughts.

"It's g-good to s-see you again. With how p-poorly your last check-up went, I was afraid w-we might n-need to send out someone to hunt you d-down." Alphys tried to start the appointment with a half-joke and a nervous laugh, well aware of how 'difficult' a patient you are after years of dealing with you.

Still, you had to feel bad for her. That's why you chose her, to be honest. You couldn't be mean, not to this poor, small, stuttering monster. It forced you to keep some manners about.

"It's nice to see you again as well, Doctor Alphys," you tried to respond cordially.

She quickly made her way over to the table and a few steps up a stepladder to reach you. "S-so. Let's get started. Y-you probably just want this over w-with so you can h-head home."

Grabbing your soul, she began her gentle examination.

"Y-you haven't seen any change?"

"No visible change."

"No c-cracks?"

"No cracking."

"H-how do you feel?"

"The same as always."

She stopped and tried to give her best stern look, "Y-you know you h-have to re-state it f-for the record."

Sighing, you gave in, "Regarding the hole in my soul, I do not feel it. Or, rather, that section of my soul, which is supposed to resonate with and allow mental communication with my soulmate, does not feel like it is gone." You knew that you sounded technical, but you had learned the lingo over the years. If you had wanted to study souls, you would have a real jump start.

Alphys released your soul to return to its proper home in the indentation in your upper chest. She stepped down off of the stool, grabbing a clipboard and sqribbling down a few notes. She tried to appear occupied, but kept glancing up at you nervously.

Finally, you just got tired of it. "Do you just want me to say it? I hear it every year. I've heard it ever since my soul started to develop this way."

She stared down at her notes, claws clutching the clipboard. "Th-that really isn't p-proper-"

You interjected. "'You do not know what it feels like to have that part of your soul, therefore you don't have any context to be able to understand you don't have it.'"

She didn't look you in the eyes, tapping at a part of the page with her pen. "It does m-make sense. It would be like asking a h-human how their tail feels. Th-they wouldn't have one to be able to answer. But, if someone convinced them that they were supposed to have a t-tail, they c-could conclude that their t-tail is fine because they f-feel no pain."

By this point the physical part of the examination was done, and you jumped down off of the table.

You were going to argue this. You didn't care that it got marked down in your record every time. You didn't care that they thought you were delusional. They were wrong.

"Alphys," you tried to soften your voice, sound kind and sane, "I know that my soulmate is out there. I can feel that part of me. It isn't gone. It just isn't here yet."

Still hiding behind her work, she tried to dismiss you, "Y-you're free to go."

You weren't letting go that easily. "You have a soulmate! I can see where you are connected. You know what that bond feels like. Do you really think that it would be possible to imagine that feeling?"

She froze, one of her hands drifting up to gently touch that part of her soul. "Undyne," she whispered under her breath. She hemmed and hawed for a few moments, going over what you had said. Finally, she pulled herself together to talk directly to you.

"I w-want to believe you. You sound so convinced, and y-you make a good point. But, since you are the only case we have ever seen of this, w-we have to go off of what science we do have. And I'm s-sorry, but we haven't found any that s-supports your statement." She was genuinely sorry for you. You could tell. You had seen that look on so many people's faces over the years. Pity. Pity for the poor human without a soulmate. You were sick of it.

Years of cold, clinical treatment had morphed your anger to be much the same. You were allowed to be angry, but not the flailing, yelling kind. It was hard to poke needles into that kind. Even after they had run out of experiments to test on you, that variant of fury remained yours.

Your gaze hardened, and your words became daggers. "I will most likely see you next year, Doctor Alphys. But, if I don't show up to the appointment don't bother sending anyone after me. I will have most certainly killed myself, being the unfortunate human that the universe deprived of a soulmate." You strode over to the door and opened it, starting to step out into the hall.

"W-wait!" Alphys cried, dropping the paperwork, "Y-you just made a threat on your life! I can't let y-you leave the appointment."

Your expression did not change. "I do believe that you should remember, Doctor Alphys, that you already told me I was free to go. And as for worrying about my threat, well you had better hope I keep putting more faith in my own soul than your science. See you next year."

You didn't slam the door, instead closing it behind you with a gentle _click_. You weren't sure whether it was satisfying or infuriating that your rage was so quiet. Either way, it was who you were. You wouldn't ever actually hurt yourself, but you had succeeded in making your point.

Taking the fastest route out of the building, you started your walk home.

-[]-

There wasn't a day that you didn't wish your world was different.

There wasn't a day that you didn't wish that people hid their souls, maybe because they were private or there was a risk of them being attacked. If you lived in a world where people didn't naturally have their souls outside their body, you would have been able to avoid all of it. No one would have ever known that you had that blasted hole, and you would be able to wait for your soulmate in peace.

It was ridiculous though. A world where you couldn't see other people's souls all the time? How would people even find their soulmate? Hope they ran into them and their soul popped out? That was an amusing thought. Plus, if there was any reason people would have to hide their souls, there would probably be fighting of some sort. Say, a battle between humans and monsters. But that was too awful to even consider.

No, you lived in your world, a world of widespread peace and happiness for everyone with their one true love. It would be perfect. It just wasn't perfect for you.

You often told yourself that you hated your world, and in some respects that was true. But another part you knew that you were jealous. You were happy for everyone around you. You were glad that they were able to lead their perfect lives. It wasn't their fault that they didn't know how to act around you.

But why were you even going over this again? You stared angrily at the ceiling of your bedroom. Because some kid on the walk home pointed out your soul? Because their father had hushed them and hurried them away? Shouldn't this stuff not even faze you anymore?

Shaking your head, you tried to focus on something else: your soulmate. You knew that he existed (and yes, you knew that it was a he).

The part of your soul that everyone was so concerned about was an interesting piece of work. It was supposed to develop to be identical to your soulmate's. It was a natural mental connection between the two of you. This lead to even tiny children having conversations with their soulmate nearly all the time. It didn't matter if someone's soulmate was all the way across the world and they never got to see them. By the time they were old enough to go find them, there were no questions. People would have already told each other where they lived, their name, and much of their life growing up. It was a truly magical connection, two people living so close mentally.

It was a bit more complicated for you. Although you could feel your soulmate, you knew that he was there, it was almost like he was too far away. It was like trying to yell at someone across a football stadium instead of holding casual conversation. For a long time you would swing questions his way, and all you would get were emotions in response. Occasionally you would feel something from him, but nothing that you could make any sense of.

Then, you figured it out. There was a pattern to how he was responding to your questions: positive versus negative emotions. You realized that it was like yelling at someone from a distance, and he had better hearing than you. You were the only one not hearing things clearly.

From that point you had began to phrase your questions for yes or no answers, and you began to learn some stuff from there.

He was male. His name started with either 'E' or 'S' (there was a bit on confusion on that point). He did know what a soulmate was. He didn't seem to know that you were his. He didn't seem to know where you were. He didn't have any family, or at least none that he wanted to talk about (he had reacted so negatively when you asked that you never brought it up again). He was a monster.

You also occasionally just gave him information about you. Just tidbits here and there. Your favorite color. When you had a good day. Where you worked. You tried you best not to talk to him about anything too negative, never really bringing up the doctors' appointments and such. Even during the timeframes where you found yourself without friends, you didn't tell him about it. Instead, you just talked to him more. You would tell him about movies you had seen or books you had been reading. He always seemed to like when you told stories, positive and attentive emotions coming through on your end.

But, you were tired. You had waited so long and still, he wasn't there with you. Without thinking much about it, you sent out your exhausted and partially desperate question:

 _Are you ever going to come for me?_

-[]-

Error heard voices.

They were his only companions. In his earliest memories, the anti-void was quiet, and he was miserably lonely. Despite the original shock, he was rather happy that their screams started to accompany his, and even happier when they started speaking coherently to him.

They had also proven themselves useful, albeit sometimes annoying. Sometimes they would warn him about dangers and when new AUs were made. Other times they would tell him that destroying all AUs was evil, impossible, and he should give up. He elected to ignore those ones.

But amongst the vague muttering that he would hear from various different voices, almost never consistent, he knew one well. He had labeled them 'the odd one', and had become rather used to hearing their questions pop in every once in a while.

At first he thought they were just incredibly stupid. They would ask random questions over and over, despite him answering them. They would try to start conversations about the most random topics, asking him why he wasn't responding to them when he clearly was.

Then, for a second, their questions devolved, becoming seemingly more idiotic.

 _I have an idea. Are you a girl?_

"No! You should know this. The other voices do."

 _Okay. Are you a boy?_

"Yes, of course."

 _Did you just answer 'no' then 'yes'?_

He remembers pausing at the odd question. "…yes."

 _Yes! I can tell when you answer 'yes' or 'no'! I'm finally going to be able to learn about you!_

The voice just felt so excited, so proud of itself, Error didn't know what to do. He had felt what they felt, something he had never experienced with the other voices. The others would sometimes swarm, informing him over and over how they as a collective mind felt, but he never actually experienced the emotion like he had with this one.

Bewildered, he decided to play nice whenever they asked him anything. For some reason, this odd voice didn't know everything that he was doing like the others did. For some reason, he could feel this odd voice's feelings. For some reason, this odd voice didn't just ask him about himself.

For the most part, he liked them. It was especially nice when they would tell him stories. The anti-void was an empty place, and it was nice to hear them describe adventures or even just everyday life. Whenever they started telling one, he would lie on the ground and listen from start to finish, completely enraptured.

There were times that they were annoying. They were acting like they were a person. They would ask if he knew where they were. Although they were a very real voice, they weren't a real person. They weren't in a place. So of course he didn't.

Then there was their whole soulmate thing. He was aware of the concept. He had destroyed a few AUs based on the idea. But they were saying that he was theirs? That, once again, was impossible. They were a voice or a spirit, and he wasn't from a soulmate AU anyway.

Still, they were his odd voice, and he came to appreciate them in his own way.

That is, he appreciated them except for when they would pull stunts like this.

To make matters worse, this was the worst one he had ever experienced.

It pained him so much.

So much loneliness and longing.

All shoved into one question out of the blue from his odd voice:

 _Are you ever going come for me?_

The overpowering amount of emotion was enough to get him glitching away. His eyes filled with the errors that made it impossible to see, his body flickering in and out of a solid existing state. By the time the wave was over, he felt lucky that he was still whole.

Standing up from where he collapsed, he shook his head, trying to clear the last of the errors from his vision. The other voices rushed in, asking over and over if he was okay.

He was okay. Just furious. He wasn't even going to bother answering the odd voice. They were nothing but a menace to his health, he huffed, and they could probably feel his anger anyway.

Another voice told him he was being irrationally mad. He knew that they made a good point, but he didn't care. He needed to destroy something, get this out of his system.

Pulling back and thinking through the code, he tried to find a universe that wouldn't take long to destroy. Just enough to let off some steam. Normally this process could take a bit, but the second that he started, it was like the perfect universe jumped out at him. It was exactly what he needed.

He laughed as he waved his hand, opening a portal to the universe and stepping through. He had this in the bag, it was his forte…

Or at least he thought that until he stepped through the door, immediately collapsing from all of the memories that came flooding in. A wave of information crashed into him like water from a dam that finally burst. It was nearly enough to make him crash.

Once that terrifying experience was over, he felt a draw, and he figured that he would follow it. He had a feeling that it would lead him to the person responsible for everything, and he wanted the chance to explain to them that they messed with the wrong monster.

He would handle this person that messed with his mind, and then he would deal with the universe.

-[]-

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe!

Nightmares were normal for you, but this one was more creative than most.

The parallels were still there though. Pure white surrounded you, the color of clinical cleanliness conquering everything. You weren't strapped down, but you still were tied up. The blue strings crisscrossing and pressing in your soul far too much like the scalpels they would use to 'gently' examine you. The strings had you suspended as well, creating a new element of fear. With the white around you, you had no idea far up you were. It felt like you were suspended in the middle of everywhere and nowhere, especially with how the blue strings attached to you seemed to go on forever into the distance.

Logically, you knew that this was a nightmare. It had to be. But try as you might, you couldn't wake up, couldn't stop the panic.

You were lucky in one way, however. You knew this had to be a dream, and there was a big difference between dreams and the traumatizing reality that you had been forced to face.

In dreams you were allowed to scream.

-[]-

You had about yelled and sobbed your throat raw by the time a strange pattern of black pixels appeared and a figure stepped through.

You couldn't get a good look at them; they were far, far, below you, that realization causing you to immediately regret all of your worried struggling.

The possibility of this being a dream was growing less and less by the second. You couldn't remember a nightmare ever being so long and vivid. Your tears of panic transformed into ones of relief at the sight of another person.

"Please!" you screamed, desperate to be heard from above, "Please!"

The figure didn't make any verbal response. They didn't even look up at you. But, they did make a downwards motion with their hand.

The strings began to lower you, but did not relinquish their tight wrap on your soul. Terror began to grasp you again as you realized that whoever this was probably was the one who brought you here. You started to automatically struggle again, but in response this time the strings tightened, and you fell limp in shock. You didn't want to feel that again. You needed these strings off. You desperately needed them off.

Finally your decent stopped, your feet still a foot or so above the ground. Your captor was short, and you had to angle your head down at a sharp angle to see them. They were odd to say the least. A skeleton monster, a common monster on your world, would be your first guess based off of their grinning skull, but this one was the deepest black, completely contrasting the white surroundings. And their eyes- the natural glowing lights that were found in skeleton monsters were mismatched- red with a pinch of white in one, and red _and_ yellow _and_ blue _and_ black in the other. But although that was disconcerting, the most bizarre aspect was the physical word 'ERROR', which floated around in various glitching places on their body.

Now, normally, you wouldn't be so focused on the appearance of your captor. You weren't some weird teen writing a bad fanfiction. But, in this case, you couldn't _help_ but absorb it all. The flickering ERRORs, the demented eyes, and the manic grin all immediately read as loud and obnoxious red flags. This skeleton thing was going to kill you.

"How did you attack me?" His voice was as twisted and jagged as his appearance, and you flinched as it startled you.

He was not pleased by your silent reaction.

"How did you attack me?" he asked again, a hand clenching, making the strings on your soul tighten yet again.

That was enough to get you talking. "P-please! I can't! The strings!" Your breath grew faster, anxiety spiraling out of control. "I can't. Ican'tIcan'tIcan't…"

His head tilted, stretched smile dipping slightly. "What?"

Try as you might, you couldn't respond, and your eyes grew clouded with tears again. He was going to kill you. He was going to kill you and you couldn't even pull yourself together to plead for your life.

It shocked you when you felt your feet touch the ground. You felt the absence of the strings immediately afterwards, and without the support you collapsed.

"Wha-? Th-they're gone?...I just…what is…" you sputtered, breath barely calming as you clutched at your soul.

As you looked up he was standing just a few feet ahead, looking impatiently down at you. "What are you, an idiot? But what else should I expect from a dirty glitch…" he rolled his strange eyes. " **How did you attack me?** "

You shuddered, but managed to take in a gulp of air, "Hold ON for a second."

It seemed like he was going to lash out, before stopping oddly and looking to the side.

"I don't care that it's upset. I need to know how they attacked me," he spoke to a person not visible to you. "No, I need information first." Another break. "I don't know. Why don't you just ask them?"

He returned his attention back to you, leading to a few seconds of incredibly awkward silence. "Well?" he prodded after awhile, "Aren't you going to answer them?"

If there was anything to hear, you were not hearing it. And you were done stuttering about. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was resting after a very long, overall awful day. The next thing I know I'm in a situation fit for a nightmare for what seemed like hours. And now, I have some crazed soulless monster guy asking how I attacked him when I have done _nothing_ of the sort. So I think that if anyone owes an explanation here, it's going to be you, mister."

The glitches surrounding him started to get more agitated as your short speech went on, but stilled partway through. "I'm not soulless."

You pointed at his upper chest, where you knew that everyone's soul lays. "I most certainly don't see one."

"I have a soul…Oh, all of you …I could have sworn that I've shown you all before."

Apparently the other things he could hear were saying something similar.

"Stars- just, okay, okay. Alright." He placed a hand over the place you normally would see somebody's soul. "If you try anything, I will string you up again."

You had just a moment to recognize that he was speaking to you and frantically nod before he jerked his arm forward, drawing out an undeniable soul.

"There. See. I'm not a heartless monster."

It wasn't normal, to say the least, but the upside down shape of a monster soul was still undeniable. The small black soul was littered with physical, glitching errors, just like the rest of him. There were parts of it jumping in and out of alignment with the rest of it, and segments that were completely missing. _Including… oh my gods…_

"So, uhm," he coughed, self conscious, "There. Now you've all seen it." He made a move to hide it again.

"You came for me!" you just about screeched.

It was his turn to be confused. "What?"

"This is one horrible way to introduce yourself to your soulmate, mister," you placed your hands on your hips. "Kidnapping isn't polite. Even if technically speaking I asked for it. But you felt so angry after I asked? And now you are going on about me attacking you? I mean, I'm willing to forgive you but I need an explanation."

"What are you talking about?" He continued to look puzzled, before shifting his focus to another random fixed spot in the air. "No. They aren't- that can't be. You're all acting strange."

You let out a sigh. "You really weren't kidding when you said that you didn't know I was your soulmate , were you, S? Or is it E? Look," you gestured between the empty space in your soul and the identical hole in his, "The fact that our souls are the same in that spot means that we are soulmates. And it also means." You stopped talking aloud.

-[]-

 _We share a link through our souls._

Error started at the sudden return of the odd voice. This can't be.

 _And now I can hear you too!_ the human across from him made a small jump of joy. _I couldn't hear you before, just feel emotions_

He could feel their happiness through the bond. That was what happened… when I entered their world the link became less strained, and the emotions were overwhelming… they didn't intentionally attack me… but this is still wrong. Some sort of messed up code, a mistake, a cross in the multiverse…

They took a step toward him. _You've realized it yourself. I didn't attack you. I just want to get to know you…_

Too close too close too close! He stumbled back. "Get out of my head! Don't touch me!"

Sadness and hesitation flowed across into him. They shuffled their feet before switching back to speaking aloud. "I mean. If you choose, you can close me out of direct thought. By wanting me 'out of your head' you already have. But I'll still be able to feel your emotions, and vice versa."

He pulled himself together, choosing to behave as though he hadn't just freaked. "How… interesting. I might just have to keep you for a little while before I kill you. I want to figure out how this happened."

Some fear radiated across to him. Yes, this would be interesting.

"You aren't going to bring me back to my universe? Where the hell even are we?"

Error let out a glitched laugh. "This is the antivoid: a place outside of the code of the multiverse. You just want to get to know me? Well I just want to learn how this happened before I dispose of the garbage. Get comfortable, but not too comfortable. You won't be alive for that much longer."

He turned away and started to make a portal. He was trying to sound confident, but he needed to get away. He needed to clear his head.

"Wait! Where are you going? I don't even know your name."

They were stopping him for his name? What did it even matter? They would be dead soon. He decided to humor them.

"Sans."

And then he left them alone once again.

-[]-

It wasn't awful in the antivoid once you got used to it, really. Or at least that was what you told yourself as you woke up staring at the nothingness. It was what you had gotten in the habit of saying for awhile now.

It was a lie. It was awful when you were by yourself. But that didn't change the fact that you were getting used to it to the point that you could tell the lie.

You came to really love the times that Sans was there, even though he was still acting cold toward you. Your desperate soul couldn't give up. He may have been blocking a large part of your mental connection and he may have been threatening to kill you every time he talked to you, but he hadn't hurt you yet. He had let you down from the strings once he knew they were distressing you. And, although the conversation topics mainly stayed on how most universes are abominations and him responding aloud to some (questionably real?) voices in his head, he did talk to you.

You couldn't give up. He would have to come around. He'd have to. Not that you had much choice in putting up with it, since you didn't know the way out.

Therefore you dealt with it, which entailed sitting alone in the infinite white space for indeterminate amounts of time while Sans was gone, and trying to interact with him positively while he was there.

At first you would keep yourself entertained by singing and similar activities, but soon you ran out of songs and things to do. It got to the point that you would just wait and sleep.

You weren't sure how long you had been there, but Sans had come and left so many times that you had lost count.

You just had to keep hoping that things would get better.

-[]-

You sensed Sans when he arrived back in the antivoid, and you stretched and yawned, sitting up.

Normally he was talking to the voices almost instantly after he closed the portal, responding to questions of where he had been or if he had destroyed anything (or at least that was what you assumed the questions were based off of his answers). This time, however, he was eerily quiet.

Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you turned to face him and were met with a confused look. He just sort-of stared at you, eyes narrowed.

You let him do whatever that was, worried that you had somehow managed to do something wrong. Maybe he was finally going to go through on those threats to kill you. Regardless, it was too much of a risk to try talking.

Luckily, he only stared for about a minute or so before finally speaking. "Do you need food?"

The sudden concern caught you off guard. "What?"

"Food. Do you need to eat?" he seemed genuinely curious. "Monsters don't need food to survive, so I don't really ever bother bringing any to the antivoid. But now that I think about it, you should have 'starved'" he looked at you for confirmation of the word before going on. At your nod, he continued, "You should have 'starved' to death by now with how long you have been here. So do you need food? I thought humans did."

Oh gods. You hadn't eaten since the morning of your doctor's appointment. You should be dead. But you felt… fine? What the hell?

"Uh," you reflexively put a hand on your stomach, which should have been growling up a storrm, "I should need food. Humans do. But I don't feel hungry, and as you so intelligently pointed out, I am not dead." You realized something. "Wait just a second! Were you trying starve me to death?!"

He looked personally offended. "I wasn't trying to kill you. Your weak human needs just hadn't crossed my mind." A dark smile widened on his face, and blue strings appeared between his hands. "If I was going to kill you, I would just crush your soul."

You stumbled back at the reappearance of the strings, and averted your eyes away from his twisted expression. Okay. If he was going to kill you it was going to be via your soul. With those strings. You literally couldn't think of a worse way to die. You forced yourself to breathe. You were going to be fine. You were going to be fine.

"Anyway," he started speaking again as though nothing had happened, strings dissipating in a flash, "you apparently don't need food to survive here. I suppose that you're fine then."

He turned away from you and looked like he was going to leave again before halting in his tracks. He sighed, dropping his hand from where it was about to make another portal.

"Do you want anything?" his voice was grumbly and tired, almost like he couldn't believe what he was asking.

You couldn't believe it either. "What?"

He glared in your direction, before sighing again. "Do you want anything? Some of the voices have been nagging me to treat you better. They say I need to treat you more comfortably."

Maybe those crazy voices in his head weren't completely useless.

"I mean," he made a wide gesture with his hands; "Some of the other voices are saying I should torture and kill you, they just aren't making the best arguments right now."

Nope. The crazy voices were not good, and you couldn't trust him to always listen to the nice ones. Still, you should take advantage of when he was behaving like this. Who knew when he was going to offer something like this again?

But you couldn't think of anything good.

"Uh," a ghost hunger went through you. Now that you realized that you hadn't eaten for days, you were craving sustenance. Not because of need, just because of taste. Eating was good. It could be comforting, and right now you really wanted some comfort. Your mind automatically strayed to your go-to comfort food. "I actually would really like a chocolate shake right now."

His scowled in disgust. "A chocolate shake? Not exactly my favorite."

For a second you thought that maybe he would take back his offer just because you asked for something he didn't like, but he quickly nodded.

"But I do know where to get one from. Just a moment." He waved his arm, a smaller portal opening up, and he reached through. A second later he was holding a chocolate shake, complete with whip cream and cherry.

You could hear a furious yell from the other side of the portal just as it closed. "where the **f*ck** did my shake go?" called a gruff, oddly familiar voice. But you couldn't place it.

"There," Sans walked over and quickly handed you the drink, "A chocolate shake."

Grabbing the drink, you started to guzzle it down as best one can with a shake. After going so long without anything, the sweet treat really hit the spot.

He had put distance between you and him again. He never was too close to you.

"Thank you." Your manners kicked in before you could really realize you were thanking your kidnapper.

He seemed just as shocked at your response before shuffling his feet. "It made the voices shut up for now. That's all."

"Who was that voice through the portal?" You asked offhandedly, hoping that this could be an opening to a sane and productive conversation.

He sneered at were the portal once was, making you believe that you had chosen a bad topic, before letting out a small laugh.

"That was Sans abomination number #13, from the Underfell universe," he shrugged, "Doesn't matter if I steal something from one glitch to feed another."

"Another Sans? From different universe?" You took another sip from your shake. "Wait. Would that mean that he would be my soulmate too? Or would there be a different Sans in my universe? But that wouldn't make sense. I would have heard him…"

Sans shook his head. "From what I have seen, there isn't any other Sans, or anyone else, that has a similar connection to you specifi-"

"So we really are a unique pair. I wonder what the universe… or multiverse, I guess… had in mind when this happened," You paused and looked were his soul was hidden. "What universe are you from, Sans?"

The somewhat relaxed demeanor that he had begun to take on immediately disappeared, his body language becoming stiff, "Stop."

"Okay, okay. Sorry," you quickly apologized. Apparently asking him about where he was from was just as touchy a topic as his family. But still… there were waves of anger and defensiveness coming from him because of the question… but there was also… hurt? ...and… confusion?... "I just wonder about you. And worry about you. I can't help it. And to be entirely honest, I'm not sure how you can help not feeling the same way about me."

He turned his back to you with a huff. "This isn't how things are supposed to go. Of course nothing makes sense. None of this… neither of _us_ are supposed to be here."

"If we weren't supposed to be here then why would we be?" You gently set your drink on the ground and started to walk toward him as you resumed speaking. "Things can seem like mistakes and still have a purpose. People have been telling me for years that there was something wrong with my soul, but clearly that isn't true. It just ended up meaning that I belong with you."

You got within arm's reach of him, now just barely able to hear his glitched, frenzied muttering.

"It would help if you would just open up to me. I care about you." Your hand drifted out, gently resting on his shoulder.

The loudest sound you had heard in ages suddenly sounded through the antivoid, causing you to immediately pull away and cover your ears. You looked back to Sans as the noise stopped, and your breath caught in your throat.

His glitches were frozen, and his eyes empty. Drifting above his head were the words " HAS CRASHED".

"Sans? What was that? Oh my gods, are you okay?"

He didn't respond, but the words above his head changed to just "Rebooting" and a loading bar.

As it finished loading, Sans snapped back to life, blinking a few times and shaking his head.

"Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry." You wanted to grab him and check and make sure he was okay, but touching him was what caused the issue in the first place.

He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "You didn't hurt me. Part of being a glitch means crashing when you're uncomfortable. I… I'm not really used to being touched. Don't do that again."

You put your hands up. "Never."

That's when you realized your hands were empty. You must have dropped your shake when you covered your ears. Where was it? You hope that you hadn't made a mess…

It was sitting straight up on the ground, through some amazing luck. You picked it back up and fiddled with the straw. "So, uh, anyway. Thank you again for the chocolate shake."

He hadn't been paying attention to you, instead examining his hands and arms, almost looking like he was checking to see if he was all there. But, at your words his eyes snapped back up, a brightness you were unfamiliar with filling them.

"A _chocolate_ shake? Can I have some? Nevermind, I'll just get one of my own."

The small portal opened and closed so fast you were just barely able to hear the voice cursing, "not **f*ckin'** agai-" and then there was a drink in Sans' hands.

"This was a good choice." He commented before just tossing the whole plastic cup in his mouth.

You couldn't help it. A small laugh sneaked out of you. "You just ate the plastic. What the hell?" you snickered. "And I thought you said you didn't like chocolate?"

He shrugged. Overall, he seemed much… calmer… than before. "When I crash sometimes things can get lost or rearranged. Sometimes they are physical, like I could suddenly be missing a finger." He opened and closed his hand to illustrate his point. "And sometimes they are something personality wise, because of a change in the physical makeup of my soul. It is just part of being an Error."

"Fine, that explains that." It was also horrifying, but you weren't going to say that out loud. "But eating the plastic? That can't be healthy. Come on, Sans. I mean, really?"

He laughed this time, before grabbing the near-empty plastic cup out of your hand and eating that too. "Monsters don't need food. So just eating what it comes in is more efficient than letting it dirty up the antivoid."

You sat on the floor of the pure white space and patted the ground in front of you, inviting Sans to sit too. "I do have to admit, it would be a shame to ruin this place. Now, come on, tell me what you did today. I'm sure the voices are curious too."

He took the invitation, sitting across from you before starting to go through descriptions of what he had done that day. It was back to the normal routine. But something felt different. There were a few less death threats. A few less glares.

Maybe you were finally getting somewhere.

-[]-

"Human?" Sans suddenly spoke, pulling his attention away from the one universe he watched like a television show and closing the portal.

"Yes?" You were glad that he had decided to maybe start another conversation.

Things had been doing somewhat better. 'Human' was a much better nickname than 'filthy glitch' after all. And he had been talking more to you more. But it was still a battle.

"The other voices keep trying to ask you questions. Why won't you just answer them? It gets rather annoying."

Oh, dear. This really was a point of contention that you tried to avoid. The voices could mean a few things. One, Sans was entirely insane. Two, he somehow had other soul mates, the thought of which made you oddly jealous. Or, three, there were actual other beings that were watching in on you both, some of which wanted you dead.

"I've told you before. I really can't hear them."

He pondered for a second. "What if I translated for you?"

That caught you off guard. Talking to these voices through him? It was odd, but you couldn't really think of any reason it would do any harm. "Uh, sure." You folded your hands in front of you. "Tell them to go ahead."

 ** _"_** ** _What was it like in your universe?"_**

"Oh, you all and Sans have probably already heard way to much about my universe. It's pretty basic. Monsters and humans live together, and everyone has their soulmate. It's entirely peaceful, to the point that souls aren't even hidden in bodies, they just rest on the outside. To be entirely honest, the idea of hiding a soul within yourself was an entirely new concept when I got here."

 ** _"_** ** _Are you afraid?"_**

You swallowed. There were bound to be questions like this. You didn't want to answer in a way that would offend Sans, but he would know if you were lying. You just had to tell the truth.

"I'm a little scared. But not all of the time. I mean, it is going to be scary when you are hanging with someone that constantly tells you he's eventually going to kill you. But overall I'm pretty comfortable. I mean, Sans is my soulmate. I'd be happy around him no matter what."

Sans looked like he was going to puke from your sentimentality, but he didn't look angry, so that was good. "Okay. If you all are just going to start asking questions like that I'm not going to ask them for you."

He was addressing the voices again, and you sat and fiddled with your thumbs while he argued. After awhile he snapped his fingers to get your attention again. "Human."

"Yes?"

"The other voices are being problematic, so I am not going to ask any of their other questions right now. But I probably will ask a question now and then for them from now on." He sent a small glare into the air like he was irritated with one voice in particular, before opening the portal back up. "For now let's just watch some more Undernovella."

-[]-

 ** _"_** ** _Would you tell us another one of your stories, please?"_**

You were a little surprised at the sudden question, but from the look on Sans' face you could guess that it wasn't just the voices that wanted to hear a story. He had always felt so happy when you told stories before you really met him.

"Sure. Do you want a real story, or a fairytale?"

"A fairytale," Sans used the voice that you had learned meant he was speaking rather than the voices. Cute.

"Alright. A fairytale it is."

-[]-

Sans coughed. "Uh… **_'_** ** _do you luuuuv him?'_** " You smiled. You were beginning to think that maybe the voices weren't always the ones asking the questions anymore. Especially with the increase in requests for stories.

"Sans is my soulmate. He is the most important person in the multiverse to me. And I do suppose you could call that love."

Sans coughed and turned away again.

-[]-

You woke up from your nap surprised to see Sans already home, sitting on the ground with his back turned to you. He had begun to get much better at not being an annoying loud *sshole when arriving in the antivoid, but he had always somehow woken you up until this point.

"Hey, Sans." You yawned and sat up.

He turned to face you, blue strings twisted between his fingers.

You didn't scream, but you were panicking, and there was no doubt that he would be able to feel it.

His eyes darted between you and the strings before realization dawned on him. "It's just cat's cradle! I wasn't…"

The strings dissipated and you slowed your breathing. He gave you a few seconds before scooting closer to you. "Human… **_'_** ** _Why did you panic so much when it came to the blue strings? Why do you still panic if you see them now?'_** "

His glitchy voice was as gentle as it got, and he was the closest he had been to you since you accidentally touched him. He played it off as a question from the voices, but you knew that he was really asking. You didn't want to upset him, but you couldn't help it. It all spilled out.

The issues your soul caused for you back in your universe.

The appointments.

The testing.

The clinical, white hospitals.

The pity.

His face grew more and more concerned as your rambling went on, but he didn't say a word.

You were crying by the time you got to the end of it. "They made me feel like I was crazy, that I was defective and they were trying to fix me. And… and those strings on my soul just were too much of a reminder. I don't like when people touch my soul. I don't like it. I can't handle it."

A hand suddenly rose up and gently wiped your tears away. Did he… did he just touch you?

He stared his hand like he couldn't believe it himself before something in his gaze hardened.

He stood, and the glitches in his voice returned. "I need to leave. I'll be back."

A portal opened, and he was gone.

-[]-

You were kind of mad at Sans. You had been crying. There had been some sort of breakthrough. He had _touched you of his own accord_ after it had been clearly established that he didn't really like being touched.

And he just left you there.

You had more than enough time to pull yourself together and become irritated at the skeleton.

So you were ready to tear into him when he got back, if he hadn't started speaking and grabbed your hand before you had a chance to do so.

"Human. Do you want to see something?"

Where was this coming from? Did he just need time to pull himself together? It didn't matter. Your soul was singing.

"Like, somewhere other than the antivoid?"

"One of my favorite places." His smile was genuine. And he was _holding your hand_.

"I'd love to go somewhere with you."

-[]-

You never thought that there were so many stars. They just went on and on, above you and below you and to every side. Outertale was beautiful. In Sans' own words, too beautiful to destroy.

And it was quiet. The only noise coming from you two, and that was few and far between as well.

There were your expressions of wonder when you first arrived.

There were your slight giggles as Sans put on his dorky round glasses so that he could actually see, and your assurances that they made him look handsome.

There was his thank you for coming with him as you finally had to leave, stepping through a pure white portal back into the antivoid.

-[]-

"Oh, Sans," you bounded around the antivoid in pure joy, unable to believe the universe that you had just seen. "That was amazing. And if we can do that, we can go anywhere! You can take me to all of the places that you like to go."

He laughed, taking off his glasses and tucking them back into his jacket.

Your eyes widened as you had an idea. "And! And! I may not know as many places as you do, but I bet you don't know the specifics of all of the universes! I happen to know one universe particularly well." You clapped your hands together. "There are so many places that I can show you, and I can introduce you to my friends… my friends… oh my stars, Sans. They have to be so worried about me. We should go back to my universe as soon as we can. Explain where I have been…"

You started to notice the irritation radiating off of him. "Sans. Sans, what's wrong."

He didn't say anything, just looking away. His feelings of anger and protectiveness multiplied.

"Sans. What did you do?"

"I did my job." His voice was cold. "I got rid of a filthy universe."

You took in a deep breath. "No. No. No no no. I don't believe you. That was my home. Why are you lying?"

"I'm not lying. Besides, you should be thanking me. Everyone there was cruel to you. I actually finally went and did it after I learned about everything."

Was that where he went? That couldn't be… He wouldn't have…

"You have to show me. I don't believe you. I can't." You took a step closer to him. You didn't want to believe. You could only think of the people of your universe. Your peaceful universe. Happy with their soulmates, like poor little Alphys and her Undyne.

"Fine. I was planning on letting you back into my mind anyway. Let me show you what I did to that wretched place."

A montage of horror passed through your mind. The ending of a world. Your world. They didn't have a chance. They couldn't have seen it coming.

 _How could you!_ You stumbled away from him. _That place was my home! That place is the reason that I even exist! Isn't that important to you? Aren't I important to you?_

"You are important to me. But you shouldn't exist. That place shouldn't exist. Neither of us should exist. My job will be finished when I destroy all of the glitches, and that includes **you and me**. You should feel lucky that I am letting you live up until all that are left to kill is you and myself." He moved toward you, an odd collection of caring and hatred radiating off of him.

 _We can't only exist together only for you to hate us._ You stopped walking backwards, letting him get closer to you. It wasn't like there was anywhere for you to go. _I can't believe you. We belong together. The UNIVERSES decided that. And all you can do is hate me and hate yourself and destroy my home._

 _It really isn't all that surprising that you hate yourself, though._ You couldn't believe what you were thinking, but you were angry. You were so angry. _You are a hateful creature, and it is easy to hate someone that hates everything. I know that I hate you. I care about you. But I hate you. And I don't think that I will ever be able to forgive you for this._

He wasn't able to respond, the words in his head a jumbled mess of different emotions.

There was a familiar loud noise, and he crashed.

-[]-

When Error came to, he couldn't remember what was going on. Why had he crashed?

As his eyes came into focus, he could see a worried human standing in front of him.

"Sans? Are you alright? That crash was for so much longer than the last one." It reached out to touch his arm.

"What do you think you are doing?" He pulled away before it could touch him. "Why are you even here?"

The voices came to him, some going on about how he cared about this human, how they were important to him, and others telling him that the human was a glitch that needed to be destroyed.

It pulled back at his response. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what, glitch?"

"You're my soulmate. You can look and see! This missing space in my soul," it pointed that its soul, which rested outside of its body, "yours is missing the same piece. They're identical."

"Oh, really?" He pulled out his soul, looking at the place the human was talking about. Although the spots were similar, he was missing more on one side. "They don't look identical to me."

The glitch took several steps back. "When you crashed… oh my stars, when you crashed it must have affected your soul."

The voices in his head were all yelling various things, some to listen to the human, others to destroy the glitch. Error knew who he was going to listen to. After all, it was his job to destroy what shouldn't be. And he wasn't from a soulmate universe. And he wasn't supposed to exist in the first place. So, even if this glitch were telling the truth, it wouldn't matter. They needed to die.

"Even if that were the case, and we were soulmates, we aren't anymore." He laughed and summoned strings to wrap around the human's soul.

It truly started to panic, grabbing at the strings as they tightened. "Don't. Not like this."

"Don't worry," he said in mock comfort, "It won't hurt a bit."

The strings constricted, shattering the glitch's soul as it's body fell to the ground.

Error let out a laugh as half of the voices in his head congratulated him on another glitch destroyed and the others lamented about the death of the human. He didn't pay the upset voices much thought. They were always the ones upset when he was destroying things.

He did have to admit, however, as he looked at the still body of the glitch and listened to the voices in his head, he felt like he was missing something. There was a voice missing. The odd voice.

Where were they?


	4. Author's Note and Poll Info

Hey guys! Guess who's alive!

Sorry. If you all read my profile, I said that I would have the worst and most inconsistent update schedule. This definitely proves it. Anyway, Chapter three is up, and that's something at least.

As I have 100% proven that these chapters will come in odd and irregular timeframes, I felt it was only fair that I let you guys have a say on what AU comes next. **So, I put up a poll on my profile and let you guys put it to vote.**

I am here now with the update. **Votes are in, and up first is Reapertale, then Swaptale, and then Horrortale!**

And don't worry, those aren't the only AU's that are coming, those are just the ones that I have planned out right now.

And if there is an AU that you specifically want to see, don't be afraid to say so in a comment! I love hearing from you guys.

I'll delete this 'chapter' when chapter four goes up.

Thanks for not unfollowing me. Heh.


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